Heart of the Warrior
by AquaThunderKnight17
Summary: This novelized version of Final Fantasy XIII includes Cloud Strife as a party member and tells how he and Lightning met and how they fell in love. PLEASE BE REALLY, REALLY TOUGH ON THIS ONE.
1. Chapter 1: The New Captain

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

Sergeant Farron, otherwise known by her codename: Lightning, moved past the numerous cubicles in the Guardian Corps HQ with purpose. She needed to see her C.O. about certain rumors that had been floating around; normally she would not have cared about a stupid rumor, but this was something that truly bothered her. Moving up the flight of metal stairs that separated the Captain's office from the rest of the Headquarters, Lightning knocked twice on the metal door before she was allowed in with a deep "Enter."

Pushing open the metal door, Light stepped into the office: for being the head officer's workplace it was little more than a glorified cubicle, same carpeted floor and gray walls, but with the exception of a great mahogany desk, squashy swivel chair and a lone window directly behind the desk.

Inside was the portly Lieutenant Amodar and Captain Matsuki; Matsuki, who was an experienced and one of the strongest and most honorable soldiers in the whole Corps, was beginning to look like the sixty-five year old man that he was. Silvery hair cascaded down from underneath his peaked cap and his cream uniform looked baggy on a quickly frail turning body.

"Oh Farron," he said in a voice that did not reflect the exterior age "What can I do for you?"

Snapping into a crisp salute, Lightning said with authority "Sir, permission to speak freely?"

"Granted. Now what's on your mind?"

"Captain, I only came to see if the rumors are true sir?"

"Rumors of my retirement?" he inquired lifting his eyebrows in surprise.

"Yes Captain,"

"Farron, I'm surprised at you!" Amodar scolded lightheartedly "You ought to know not to believe everything you hear-"

"-Actually," interrupted Matsuki with a hardness in his voice that made Amodar turn in surprise. "The Sanctum thinks that it's time to retire this old dog"

"That's outrageous!" fumed Lightning "You've been the best Captain the Bodhum Corp ever had, they can't just toss you out like yesterday's rubbish!"

"Calm down Farron," said Matsuki as though he was calming a raging toddler, "It's not completely the Sanctum's idea."

The revelation was as startling to Amodar as it was to Lightning. "Yes, Perenelle thinks that I ought to start slowing down after thirty years, and I have to follow an order from _my_ CO" he said with a chuckle.

"But-" started Lightning but she was stopped as Matsuki held up a hand.

"No 'buts' Farron, my mind is made up and my wife has been looking at retirement cottages in Eden. We leave at the end of the week."

Lightning bit her tongue in order to keep herself from saying anything naïve or stupid, but Amodar made the comment:

"Well, er, is there any word on who is replacing you sir?"

Matsuki reclined in his swivel chair with a defiant look on his face "Well, the damn Sanctum tried to cheat me of my right to choose a successor by trying to put one of those PSICOM bastards in my office." He suddenly began sporting a grin that made him look years younger "but I fought that with a lucky bluff!"

The lieutenant exchanged confused looks with the strawberry-haired sergeant, "A lucky bluff sir?"

"I told 'em I already had someone in mind, wasn't until later that day that bluff became fact!" he said triumphantly.

"You have a replacement already?!" asked Lightning, totally forgetting authority, but Matsuki ignored this rudeness.

"Yes I do, he's got incredible history, outside the Corp, and he's coming all the way from Gaia."

Both officers gasped, equally stunned;

"_From Gaia_?" breathed Lightning; it was basic geography that Gaia was several continents to the west.

"What's a guy that far from home doing here in Cocoon?" asked Amodar truly intrigued

"I found him, looking to join the military, but when I looked over his history, there was no doubt in my mind that he'd be my replacement."

"But sir!" said Lightning defiantly, cutting off Amodar, "You don't know anything about this guy and, if you'll forgive me sir, I'm not comfortable with letting an outsider run the Bodhum Corp…"

"…Well that's too bad" said Matsuki coldly, causing Lightning to step back "If it were a choice between an outsider or some bullshit, hot-shot from PSICOM I'd much rather have the outsider!"

Matsuki and Lightning stared each other down hard, two powerful minded people locked in a battle of opinions, but in the end it was rank that won the battle as Lightning stood up straight and gave her Captain a respectful and apologetic salute.

"I apologize for speaking out of line sir," she said soberly.

"Don't worry about it Farron," replied Matsuki, waving of his hand. From the midst of the silence, Amodar coughed and spoke very carefully:

"So, er…when does the new Captain arrive?"

"His twenty-four hour observation is tomorrow" replied Matsuki reclining in his chair "and he takes over full-time the day after." Lightning clenched her fist tightly but didn't say a word.

"I want both you up front with me tomorrow when he arrives, kind of a welcoming committee, eight hundred hours sharp, understood?"

"SIR!" cried both officers.

Swiveling his chair to look out his window, Matsuki called: "DISMISSED!"

Lightning's house wasn't even a respite from the day; her mind was too garbled and unfocused that the only relaxing thing she'd managed to accomplish was changing out of her uniform and into civilian clothes (a black sleeveless shirt and jeans). The whole thing reeked of injustice: her Captain was being forced into retirement and they were getting stuck with some stranger from a faraway continent. Pacing around her living room, her TV spewing a News report as background noise, Lightning tried to get over it but to no avail. Finally relenting, she decided that a walk on the beach might help her to sort out her thoughts; pulling on a pair flip-flops, she walked out of her house into the warm, sunny evening.

The beach was normally hopping during the late morning-early afternoon timeframe, half abandoned around evening (with the exception of an occasional all night party); currently, it was quiet, except for assorted couples enjoying the sunset. Lightning observed them with a slight curiosity; she'd devoted most of her teenage life to raising her sister, Serah, and much of her adult life had become married to her work, but she'd never had time for dating.

"_Just one more thing I can add to the list of things that make my life unfair_," she thought bitterly, moving aimlessly down the beach. She could not, for the life of her, figure out why this bothered her: it was true that Matsuki had every right to retire but it just didn't seem right that the idea was forced into his head. She also didn't understand her unreasonable and preemptive dislike of her new captain, someone she hadn't even seen.

Walking down the beach, listening to the waves crashing onto the shore and inhaling fresh salt air, Lightning finally noticed where she was: the pier, the place she always came to when she sought answers. Stepping onto the planks and moving down the pier, she found something that she was not expecting: there was someone sitting with a leg dangling over the edge and the other pulled up to his chest and staring out over the sea of golden sparkles and blood red sky. Normally, this wouldn't have bothered her (everyone came to the pier to think, the place was famous for it) but what bothered her was that she'd never seen this guy before. As if sensing someone where behind him, he turned; Lightning quickly studied his darkened silhouette: black tank top, jeans, spikey-blond hair and glowing blue eyes. She stared incredibly, his eyes weren't glowing like he was prideful, they were literally shining like two azure stars.

"I'm sorry, am I in your way?" he asked in a slow, deep voice.

"No," she replied sharply looking away and staring distractedly into the water.

"Are you alright?"

"What?" asked Lightning eyeing him for funny business; perturbing enough to be asked the question by a stranger, it was even more so hearing the gentleness and genuineness in his voice.

"You look like you've got a lot on your mind, I know, I've been told that I wear that look all the time," he said grinning warmly.

"You wouldn't understand" said Lightning almost in a snap; if she wouldn't confess her insecurities to her sister there was no way she'd do it for a complete stranger.

"Why not try me?" he asked in a playful challenge

"What about you?" Light shot back "How can I trust you if I've never seen you in my hometown before?"

"Fair enough," he replied and then went on to spew out: "My name is Cloud, recently moved here looking for work, got a job as the head of a major…let's call it a business."

"Fascinating" said Lightning smugly "You just told me everything about you without telling me a thing other than your name."

Cloud chuckled "Alright, I told you about me so spill it."

Lightning thought for a moment. He didn't appear to be lying and he didn't seem to have an ulterior motive, and so she sat next to him, took a deep breath and began to speak.

"It's like this: I find out that my boss is getting forced into retirement, by both our superiors and he found some stranger to take his place. I don't know but I guess that I'm just not comfortable letting someone we don't know and someone my CO had just met take over."

The words tumbled from her mouth with therapeutic ease. It was very surprising that she was admitting this to him but as he listened intently, she couldn't help but feel that he knew where she was coming from, like he'd been in her shoes.

"It seems to me that you're less concerned about the 'outside' replacement but with the fact that the higher ups of, wherever it is that you work, are forcing your boss out of his job" said Cloud meditatively

"Well thank you Doctor Freud!" muttered Lightning sarcastically returning to her feet and walking away. Suddenly she stopped, turned her head slightly and said "Thanks for listening"

"Don't mention it,"

"Is there anything I can do to repay your kindness?" she asked smartly

"How about a drink?"

She couldn't see him but she could tell that he was grinning "Nice try!" she chuckled and continued down the pier.

"Hey!" he called causing her to pause, "I didn't catch your name."

Lightning smiled, "It's Light"

"Light huh? Well it was nice meeting you; maybe I'll see you around" and he was silent as he returned to his solitude.

"Yeah, maybe" she thought and began to make her way home.

Eight o'clock the next morning, Lightning stood, bleary-eyed, next to Lieutenant Amodar in a line of fellow soldiers and Captain Matsuki at the head, as the entire base awaited the new Captain. As per instruction, all soldiers were clad in their khaki uniforms, brown pants/leggings, black boots and officer's caps (standard uniform for welcoming officers of either Guardian Corp or PSICOM).

"Are both of you ready?" asked Matsuki to Amodar but looking at Lightning

"I guess so sir," replied Lightning unsurely

"Well ready or not here he comes, correct sir?" chimed Amodar

"Correct, now suck in that jelly-roll Amodar!"

"I'm going to miss your sense of humor sir," Amodar chuckled (although he did inhale deeply in an attempt to make himself thinner).

"CAPTAIN APPROACHING, TEN-HUT!" came a sudden voice resounding over the room, all soldiers snapped into a straight-backed attention. Using her peripherals, Lightning tried to get a look at her new Commanding Officer: all she could see was someone clad in black moving briskly down the lineup. Suddenly, he came into full view: he only wore a single black sleeve on his left arm and a large sword hung from a harness on his belt. On his left shoulder, was a dark pauldron emblazoned with a silver wolf emblem and two azure streaks symbolizing his rank as Captain.

However, Lightning received another huge shock: underneath his peaked cap was a head of spiked golden locks and all too familiar glowing blue eyes. She caught his eye, to which he smiled gently and turned back to Matsuki; standing at attention with a fist at his chest, in a crisp salute, he said strongly

"Captain Cloud Strife reporting for duty sir"

**~o Cloud's POV o~**

Fenrir's engine roared loudly as Cloud pushed it for all it was worth. He understood why he was running but he couldn't force himself to forget what happened. The memory had been burned into his mind and it just kept replaying, over and over again. Using every ounce of his mental strength to push it back to the back of his mind, Cloud failed miserably at stopping a fresh replay as it swam before his eyes and his ears could only hear what he'd been told:

**[Flashback]**

He'd been feeling under the weather for the last several weeks and he'd gone to the best medical officer on Gaia. Sitting in her office, Cloud watched as the amber-eyed, former Tsviet, entered into the room;

"Cloud Strife," she said in her usual dead sounding voice.

"Well Shelke?" he asked cautiously, "What's the bad news?"

"I've been studying your blood samples and after comparing them to my own, I've reached the conclusion that you and I are suffering from the same symptoms." She sighed gently "There's really no easy way to tell you that the two of us are dying."

The words hit Cloud like a truck, "What?!" he asked disbelievingly;

Shelke pulled a yellowish folder out of her desk, "You and I are suffering from, what I call, chronic Mako Withdrawal; normally it would be common among ex-SOLDIER or ex-DEEPGROUND members, but I'm afraid your case is far more severe than my own."

"What do you mean?" asked Cloud causing Shelke to sigh once again "Due to the length and extremity of exposure to Mako radiation, we are in the final stages of our lives.

"As you are aware, when the body is exposed to Mako it tends to adjust by way of Mako Addiction. There are very few SOLDIER members to ever come down with the addiction but, then again, no one else has had the prolonged exposure that you and I have had. And as you know, when Mako reaches a certain level of natural contamination it becomes pure poison to the human body."

"How come we haven't felt the effects before?" asked Cloud breathlessly absorbing his fate.

"We have had Materia to quell the effects, but because the crystals are falling out of use, we are losing the one medicine that we have against it," replied Shelke emotionally stoic but physically saddened.

Cloud was breathing heavily and his mind racing; taking a calming deep breath and wiping his face, the words he dreaded to ask tumbled from his mouth "How long do we have?"

For the first time, Shelke did not answer him straightaway, but fidgeted uncomfortably,

"Shelke?" he asked again, a little more sharply.

"That's just the thing Cloud, we are in different stages of the disease." Seeing the confused look on his face, Shelke pulled up a diagram of five different human figures, each shaded a different color of blue to red and pushed it against the wall with a shard of tape.

"A healthy SOLDIER, or in my case, DEEPGROUND, would be here in stage 1" she held a finger up to the blue colored human "No poisoning, just a body filled with radiation. _I_ am here," she said drawing a finger from the green figure to the yellow figure "I'm currently transitioning from stage 2 to stage 3, when fifty percent of the Mako has altered into poison." She sighed calmingly, "_You_ on the other hand, would be here" placing her finger on the orange figure "Stage 4: where seventy-five to ninety-nine percent of the Mako is converted."

"Those numbers seem like overkill," said Cloud "Shouldn't we have been dead by stage two?"

"Normally, but the extreme rise in vitality brought on by the Mako exposure has drastically heightened our endurance levels. Unfortunately, you and I will be dying the slow and painful way."

"Death by symptoms?" he asked somberly

"Yes," she replied equally as dark.

"What should we be on the lookout for?"

Shelke sighed a fourth time as she took her seat "Common symptoms that I've suffered are usually episodes of extreme pain, hemoptysis (coughing up blood) and the occasional fainting spell. I recommend staying close to whatever Materia that you have, it should act as morphine substitute and subdue the pain, though attacks are random so keep some on you at all times."

"Thanks for your time Shelke," said Cloud shaking her hand and moving towards the door but stopped as his hand clasped the doorknob.

"You never answered me earlier, how long do each of us have?"

Interlocking her fingers and resting her chin on them, she replied solemnly "Are you sure you want to know?"

Cloud was silent for a moment and then replied with "Yes."

"Well, if _I'm_ lucky, eighteen months;" she looked Cloud deep in his Mako blue eyes "If _you're_ lucky: _six months_."

**[End Flashback]**

The worlds resounded throughout his skull at a volume that almost completely drowned out Fenrir's mighty roar. With a full tank of gas and only six months to live, Cloud decided to do what he was best known for: running away. Unable to face his friends and tell them his inevitable fate, he'd simply packed a duffle bag, loaded up his bike and took off like a bat out of hell until he'd run out of fuel somewhere on the continent of Spira.

Fortunately, he had broken down not far from a rundown little diner with a working gas pump. Pushing it up to the pump and paying the attendant for the fuel, Cloud moved inside to the diner.

The interior was more rundown than the exterior: the checkered floors were sticky, the muddy brown booths were shredded to pieces, and the whole place radiated an odor that only be obtained by years of the neglect from a sponge. Taking a seat next to the only other man at the equally grungy bar, Cloud ordered a single cup of coffee which the enormous waitress appeared to conjure up magically. Cloud drank gratefully, though quickly wishing he hadn't: the black liquid was repugnant, but it was hot and calming to his mind and body.

"Probably should have warned you," said the man to his right jokingly, "The coffee here is little more than Chocobo piss."

"Thanks for the warning," replied Cloud dryly going against his better judgment and taking another sip.

"You're not from around here, are you?" he asked casually, returning to his sandwich

"What makes you say that?" replied Cloud pushing the greasy mug away.

"You ain't dressed like you're from Spira," he replied lightly

"You're one to talk," said Cloud testily but quickly followed with a sad sigh "It doesn't matter, I can't go back."

"I see" said the man clearly finding that he'd stepped on some toes. Cloud turned to face him, but his gaze was caught by a patch on his green jacket.

"You're a bush pilot?"

"Very observant" he said with a bright smile that drastically contrasted with his dark skin.

"I'll pay you whatever price you ask, if you take me to the end of your line"

The pilot looked taken aback "You _really_ must want to get away if you want to go as far as Cocoon!" Seeing the unchanged look on Cloud's face, he suddenly took a very business-like tone "Any cargo?"

"Only myself, a duffle bag and a motorcycle" replied Cloud.

"That simple huh? Okay, it's two thousand gil…" he was cut off as Cloud dumped the gold from a leather pouch and into his hand. The pilot stared incredibly but then his wide grin was back

"Alright," he said shaking Cloud's hand. "I'm Sazh Katzroy and I'll be your pilot."

**[Time Skip…one day later]**

Cloud hadn't known the term Terra Incognita since he was thirteen, when he'd left Nibelhiem for Midgar. Eden was a magnificent, shining metropolis with rumbling traffic and streets littered with tourists. Even from the sky, he felt slightly intimidated.

"Hey buddy," called Sazh from the cockpit, "Not that it's my business but what do you plan to do now?" Cloud opened his mouth to answer but quickly found it closing like a deflated balloon, feeling like a total idiot that he hadn't given it some thought. His silence was enough of a response for Sazh,

"You ought to consider the military, good guy like you would probably do well as a soldier."

Cloud didn't bother to tell him how close his guess was.

Twenty minutes later, Cloud found himself driving Fenrir straight into the heart of downtown Eden; after deciphering Sazh chicken-scratch handwriting, he followed the pilot's instructions and eventually managed to find the recruiting office.

It was a large, dome-shaped building flowing with constant traffic of arrogant-looking teenagers going in and bald, terrified ones coming out (Cloud ran his fingers through his spikey locks, remembering nostalgically when the Shinra Military made him shave his hair). Parking and dismounting his bike with a kick to the kickstand, Cloud moved briskly into the building.

The walls of the interior were as whitewashed as the marble floors and a sharp smell, as though the whole place had been cleaned with rubbing alcohol. Moving up to the desk, a dark-haired girl in a cream uniform, and chewing gum like a cow, handed him a stack of papers and a pen and referred him to a sitting room with teenagers (both male and female).

The paperwork was fairly simple and he was through it in less than ten minutes, but all he had left was a single question that confused the hell out of him: there were two boxes and next to each of them was a choice of either PSICOM or Guardian Corps. Unsure of how to answer, Cloud when for broke and turned to a mousy haired kid next to him

"Excuse me?" he said, drawing the boy's attention "What's the difference between PSICOM and Guardian Corps?"

Instead of chastising him, the boy smiled patiently "New to the country huh?" (Cloud nodded once) "Well, Guardian Corps is more along the lines of a police force, but for a strapping guy like you I'd recommend the Public Security Intelligence Command, more commonly known as PSICOM. That's where the _real_ action is."

Nodding in appreciation, Cloud placed his pen in the box next to the bolded words of PSICOM and twitched his wrist, leaving a small black checkmark. "_Who knows_" thought Cloud glumly "_Maybe I'll get lucky and die in some battle_."

"Thanks-" he said looking for a name to insert,

"Thomas Allen," he replied shaking Cloud's hand.

"And you are?" he asked as Cloud stood up; Cloud thought for a moment and then said in his usual somber demeanor,

"Cloud Strife."

As he left the room, Cloud had the disturbing feeling creep down his spine that he suddenly had a roomful of eyes on him.

Fortunately, the dark-haired cow was not there when he arrived, unfortunately a mean looking redhead in black had replaced her. He handed her his paperwork, which she glanced over before looking up at him and saying crossly "Sorry, but PSICOM doesn't accept people who aren't native to Cocoon."

"I'm sorry?" said Cloud taken aback

"Are you deaf?" she said rather rudely "PSICOM doesn't want outsiders! Now, either get lost or I'll call security on you!" she finished with a nasty "Have a nice day Mr.-M-M-Mr." she'd looked at the clipboard to use his name but had gotten tongue-tied, breathless and wide-eyed, staring at him in shock and horror.

"That won't be necessary," replied Cloud coldly "I'll show myself out." The feeling that he was being watched haunted him again as he walked away from the desk.

…

Cloud sat, with his palm digging deep into his forehead, in a booth at a pristine diner across the road from the recruiting office. The waitress who had brought him his coffee was, so far, the third nicest person he'd met on Cocoon (it also helped that the coffee was much better than the swill he'd ingested on Spira). Suddenly, the door blew open and a livid elderly man stormed in swearing at the top of his lungs.

"Oh dear," said the waitress as the man's cursing startled off some patrons "What could have happened to upset the Captain so much?"

"JESSICA!" shouted the cook, "BRING ME SOME OF THE STRONG STUFF!"

As the waitress named Jessica readied to moved away, Cloud said quickly "Excuse me?" she turned looking slightly harassed, "Whatever he orders, put it on my bill." the waitress spirits brightened a bit, she flashed him an appreciative smile and moved off; "No matter how angry he is" Cloud muttered to himself "He's still having a better day than I am."

Several minutes passed, the fall of footsteps caused Cloud to look up, standing over him was the elderly Captain, "Jessica tells me that you're footing the bill for my usual," he said in a voice that did not reflect the years embedded on his skin.

"Hope you don't mind," said Cloud casually making the Captain smile.

"I just thought I'd personally thank and apologize to you for my rude behavior" he stuck out his hand "Captain Ian Matsuki,"

"Cloud Strife" he replied, reaching out and shaking the Captain's hand. The Captain's arm immediately stiffened, and his eyes filled with shock and awe; "You know?" said Cloud with a grin and cocked eyebrow "You're the umpteenth person to give me _that_ look."

Matsuki shook his head and then collapsed into the opposing bench "Please forgive me, but I'm a little star-struck."

Cloud shifted his gaze downward and muttered into his mug "What do you mean? I'm no celebrity."

"Are you kidding?" asked the Captain incredulously "You were the hero who saved the world from Meteor, you found the cure for Geostigma, _and_ you defeated Sephiroth _twice_! I'm sorry to have to burst your bubble son, but there isn't one person on this continent who doesn't know your name."

Cloud grunted unenthusiastically, running away from death only to discover unnecessary and unwanted fame was not exactly what he expected to find on Cocoon.

"So, can I inquire as to why such a renowned hero is here on humble Cocoon?"

"Looking for work" Cloud lied quickly.

"You crossed _six continents_, looking for work?" recalled Matsuki skeptically and with a silver eyebrow cocked.

"Correction, I crossed six continents to get rejected by the military" Cloud admitted with a grin.

"Ah, so _you're_ the infamous PSICOM reject" said the Captain with clear understanding coming across his face, but this time it was Cloud's turn to raise an eyebrow. "When I left, a PSICOM soldier was getting chewed out pretty heavily by her CO, apparently she denied admission to quite a famous warrior."

"That's too bad, maybe now she'll learn some manners" replied Cloud taking another sip of his drink; Matsuki roared with laughter.

"May I ask why you came in here so fired up?" asked Cloud putting his mug down; Captain Matsuki's good natured features suddenly, and almost frighteningly, contorted into a mask of outrage and thundered

"The damn military was trying to cheat me of my goddamn rights! Thirty years I've been a dog for those scumbags and they think I'm not competent enough to pick my own successor!"

"Sounds rough," said Cloud calmly as the waitress came and refilled his drink "Who did they have in mind?"

"SOME HOTSHOT FROM PSICOM!" roared Matsuki "THEY AREN'T EVEN RESPECTFUL ENOUGH TO PICK SOMEONE FROM MY OWN BRANCH OF THE MILITARY!"

Suddenly, his mask of rage turned into an arrogant grin "BUT I STOOD MY GROUND AGAINST THOSE S-O-B'S, I TOLD 'EM I'D ALREADY MADE MY DECISION AND I'D BE FILING THE REPLACEMENT ANYDAY!"

Cloud grinned, impressed, "Very nice, who did you pick?"

The Captain's face fell drastically "No one, it was a bluff and I've got squat!"

"I shouldn't worry about it Captain, I'm sure you'll find an appropriate replacement" said Cloud staring distractedly out the window. Then Matsuki's body perked up, his eyes brightening like the sun and a grin splitting his face like a Cheshire cat.

"You're right, and I think I know who my replacement will be."

"Who?" said Cloud absently, putting his lips back to his mug; the Captain still grinning broadly only said

"You"

The surprise of the comment caught Cloud completely off guard, causing him to spit out his coffee in a mist of brownish-black.

"W-what?!" he coughed "M-me, w-why?"

"It makes perfect sense!" chortled Matsuki victoriously "They wanted to replace me with someone from PSICOM and you got rejected from them, what better way to piss them off than by teaming up, eh?"

Cloud felt as though he'd swallowed a lemon, "Well—I—I" he sputtered thoroughly shocked.

Matsuki sighed "I understand. It's a lot to absorb and I realize that it's a lot to ask, but my regiment guards a highly populated town and I would feel comfortable knowing that they're safe with you protecting them.

"Let me clue you in on something else, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that there's a long standing rivalry between PSICOM and the Guardian Corps. If PSICOM were to take over a populated tourist attraction, it would quickly a tyrannical boot camp for civilians! I'll be damned if I let some punk from PSICOM take everything away from the people, who've trusted me for thirty-'effing'- years, and turn them into PSICOM puppets!"

Cloud listened to Matsuki's rant intently, his opinion of the Public Security Intelligence Command quickly worsening. He had come from Gaia looking for a quick and easy way out, taking the Captain's place would mean he'd have to face his maker in the way he was intended to: slowly and painfully; on the other hand, he couldn't leave an entire town to become the plaything of some psychotic military faction. He sighed, silently cursing his emotions, and asked dryly,

"What do I need to know about your regiment?"

Matsuki, grinning fanatically, asked placidly "Do you like the beach, _Captain_?"

The tang of salty air bit at his nostrils as he drove the Fenrir through the seaside town of Bodhum. Captain Matsuki wasn't kidding when he called this place a tourist attraction: the quickly lowering sun had painted the sky a dark crimson but that did not hinder the fun of the multitude of civilians still having fun. Numerous restaurants and pubs littered the main street and off in the distance was an enormous boardwalk filled with both people and miniature theme park attractions.

Scanning the streets, trying to find the location that Matsuki had scribbled on a napkin, his eyes finally fell upon a worn wooden sign of a motel called: _Leviathan's Paradise_ (Cloud thought the name would have been more appropriate for a tavern but he made no complaints as he twisted his hips slightly to the right). Driving up to the main office, which was nothing more than a box painted an ugly color of teal with an equally ugly red shingled roof, Cloud came to a smooth halt and rapped the window smartly with his knuckles.

Suddenly a dumpy, middle-aged woman with flaming red hair and sporting a set of immaculately cleaned teeth as she smiled broadly, rolled into view, startling Cloud slightly.

"Er, hi" he said "I'm-I know who you are sweetie-pie!" she said in a high pitch voice that sent unnerving chills across Cloud's skin. "Captain Matsuki called me, told me you'd need a room," she held up a small silver key attached to a plastic number one "Kings Suite, end of the lot."

As he reached over and grabbed the key, the woman's toothy grin split even wider (if it were anatomically possible) "That's a nice bike, maybe you could take me for a ride sometime," she said with a flirtatious wink that sent a shiver down his spine.

He smiled politely, and as she turned away, he muttered under his breath "Yikes," and sped off; pulling up the cement drive that separated the King's Suite from the rest of the motel, Cloud got full blast of new quarters.

The King's Suite was a wide square box with a diamond roof, painted an ugly teal and sporting red shingles that matched the rest of the motel, suspended high above on massive stilts. Pulling into the makeshift garage, directly beneath the house and kicking down the kickstand, Cloud's boots connected with the gritty sand. Taking note of the proximity of the beach and all of the sand, Cloud thought that perhaps a tarp would be a wise investment for Fenrir's sake.

Shouldering his duffle bag and lifting his metal case under his arm, Cloud moved for the door. He pulled the whitewashed door open, proceeded up the carpeted stairs, enclosed in almost a tomb of whitewashed drywall and encountering a second door hindering his way, Cloud pushed the little key into the lock and pushed, only to be hit in the face by a blast of icy air conditioning. The taste of the tacky motel did not reflect in the interior decoration: his boots clomped heavily onto polished hardwood floors, the central square was filled with decorative leather furniture, and a large flat screen TV was mounted above of a gas fireplace.

Cloud sighed, the excess luxury was more than likely a result of his "fame". Taking his first steps across the room, a sudden angry pain erupted in his chest; his duffle bag fell to the ground with a light thud but the metal case cracked open as it crashed onto the floor and spilling crystal spheres all over the floor, as he crumpled to his knees, clutching his heart.

_Why did you run_? Came a voice in his head that was all too familiar _You know you can't escape from me_. The pain was overwhelming, splitting his skull and ripping apart his senses. _It doesn't matter where you run_…vision fading and reaching out his free arm for one of the many glowing spheres, a distant pressure against his leg was too much for him, and as he fell into black the voice came back with a final chilling message…_you will always be my puppet_.

Cloud returned to consciousness with a rough gasp; he was facedown, cool hardwood pressed against exposed areas of skin and fuzzy vision gradually clearing. His gaze shifted towards the window: the sky was still deep crimson so he couldn't have been out for too long; pushing back onto his hands and knees, a sharp stabbing pain seared throughout his head. Something else was wrong, an acrid, alien taste was in his mouth; sticking a finger in his mouth, Cloud's eyes stared in horror as his glove became stained a watery crimson. Moving himself over to the couch, propping up his legs and gently reclining his head onto the leathery arm, Cloud found the unconscious thud from earlier: jammed into his thigh, was a shining red orb where one of his loyal summons' (for the umpteenth time in his life) saved him.

Suddenly, his pocket began buzzing; pulling out his cellphone, Cloud looked at the screen: he had a missed call.

_You have_, _500 new voicemail _(Cloud swore in disbelief) _First new voice message_:

"Cloud, we'd you go?" came Yuffie's voice; Cloud immediately dialed seven, deleting the message.

He shuffled through the messages, he'd even received voicemail from Vincent (and that was saying something), before slamming his phone shut. After the little 'clap' faded away, the phone began to ring: flipping open the screen, he could only stare as 7th Heaven awaited him to answer the call. Cloud sighed and then, in an act that surprised even him, he punched the squashy button with the little green phone on it and put the receiver to his ear, speaking hoarsely

"Yeah?"

"Cloud?" came Tifa's voice, sounding as equally worried as it was relieved, "Thank goodness…hold on, you never answer your phone, is something wrong-"

"-What do you want?" asked Cloud sharply, quickly interrupting the brawler's voice.

"You took off in such a rush: what's going on, _is_ something wrong, _where are you_?"

Cloud let her multitude of questions wash over him as his mind worked on his plan of action although he absentmindedly spit out "Cocoon."

"Cocoon? Oh, you're on a delivery" was the response, with even more relief than before.

"No," Cloud replied bluntly

"What?"

Cloud was silent, both to allow his mind to weigh his next few words and to allow Tifa to figure it out herself. "Well what are you doing there?" she asked slowly "When are you coming home?"

"Tifa, I'm _not_ coming back," said Cloud deeply

"WHAT?!" Tifa's voice was both shocked and alarmed "WHY?!" I

t had finally come, much to Cloud's dismay, the moment had finally come when he'd have to tell her the horrible truth. As he opened his mouth, he found his voice wouldn't work and lips wouldn't move; he sighed once again before finally remastering his voice "No…the less you know the better, good-bye Tifa."

Cloud took the phone away from his ear, the whole time he could hear Tifa speaking very loud and terrified ("No! Wait Cloud don't hang-"), but she never finished her sentence as Cloud pounded his thumb onto the little red phone.

Flicking through his options and, after a moment of waiting, Cloud watched as all five hundred messages disappeared in a flash of light, closing his phone with another small 'clap.' He placed the phone onto the glass coffee table, and quickly turned his back to it by retreating out onto the wooden deck. He breathed heavily taking in deep lungful's of salty sea air.

Then a strange sound wafted up to his ears, it was a low, mournful sound that haunted the sands of the beach like a phantom. Scanning the beach for the source of the sound, Cloud's eyes fell upon a lone gray wolf sitting in the sand and howling loudly, though being completely ignored by the sparse amount of people remaining on the beach. Cloud's mouth bent into a frown and he took off from the deck and was down the stairs charging for the beach his eyes burned with anger. It couldn't be, the damn thing couldn't have followed him across six continents!

Running out onto the beach, frustration coursing through his veins like blood, Cloud ran towards the place where the wolf had been sitting but it was gone! Quickly looking up and down the beach looking for the wretched beast, but as usual, it had vanished into thin air. Then something caught his eye: a small orb in the sand where the wolf was sitting. Scooping it up, Cloud looked over the odd little sphere: it looked like Materia but instead of glowing with the essence of the Lifestream, it was opaque, metallic silver. He put it to his arm and felt coolness on his skin but it did not absorb into his body. Angry and frustrated, Cloud pocketed the little ball and found himself tromping down the planks of a nearby pier (and fighting every urge to drown himself) before plopping down at the edge.

Staring out across the water, watching as the last beams of sunlight made the surface sparkle like thousands of twinkling stars, Cloud found himself in the dangerous depths of his mind again.

"What am I doing here?" he found himself thinking "Why did I think I could run? You damn fool."

A series of dull plunking alerted Cloud that someone was approaching but when they suddenly stopped, Cloud turned in curiosity; staring at him, was a beautiful woman dressed in a black shirt and jeans, the breeze played in the strands of her long, light pink hair and she stared at him with lovely pale aqua eyes.

"I'm sorry, am I in your way?"

"No," she replied with a deep, mature voice looking away and staring distractedly into the water.

"Are you alright?" asked Cloud curiously.

"What?" was her reply as eyed him cautiously.

"You look like you've got a lot on your mind, I know, I've been told that I wear that look all the time," he said grinning reminiscently.

"You wouldn't understand" she snapped

"Why not try me?"

"What about you? How can I trust you if I've never seen you in my hometown before?" she shot back.

Cloud nodded appreciatively "Fair enough…my name is Cloud, recently moved here looking for work, got a job as the head of a major…let's call it a business."

"Fascinating" she said uninterestedly "You just told me everything about you without telling me a thing other than your name."

Cloud chuckled "Alright, I told you about me, so spill it."

She was silent for a moment, the conflict in her eyes was quite plain, then taking a deep breath she began to speak. She let loose her concerns of her boss being forced into retirement and about how a total stranger was going to be taking over. Cloud listened intently, but was secretly shocked: her whole situation, it couldn't be, the odds that she was a member of the regiment that he would be taking over was simply astronomical, almost impossible (it also didn't help that she'd never met him and already her opinion of him as her new boss was extraordinarily low).

"It seems to me that you're less concerned about the 'outside' replacement but with the fact that the higher ups of, wherever it is that you work, are forcing your boss out of his job."

"Well thank you Doctor Freud!" she muttered sarcastically returning to her feet and walking away. The plunk of her footsteps suddenly stopped and her voice came back with an appreciative "Thanks for listening."

"Don't mention it,"

"Is there anything I can do to repay your kindness?" she asked smartly

"How about a drink?"

"Nice try!" she chuckled and she became silent as she continued down the pier.

"Hey!" he called "I didn't catch your name."

"It's Light" she replied

"Light huh? Well it was nice meeting you; maybe I'll see you around" he said ambiguously; Light didn't respond but continued on her way. Cloud thought deeply about her words: when he'd heard Matsuki's story, he'd assumed that he was just a crotchety old man who was being forced into retirement. But after hearing Light's side of the story, after hearing that the higher ups wanted him out, Cloud began to question the Sanctum: something was up and he was going to use (whatever authority he had) to figure out what.

Suddenly, a sad chuckle passed his lips, just ten minutes ago he was the Cloud Strife who had runaway to Cocoon trying to find a peaceful way to die. Five minutes later he was Cloud Strife, curious and investigative new Guardian Corps Captain.

Then his mind shifted back to Light. What the hell was he thinking?! In a move that would have made Zack Fair proud, he'd actually asked her out, and after he'd told Tifa the less _she_ knew the better! Getting to his feet and taking a calming breath, Cloud muttered to himself

"Easy Cloud, its best that you not get involved."

Making his way back to the motel, Cloud found a thin package leaning against his door. Scooping it up and brushing open the note that was taped to the front, Cloud read:

_Captain Strife,_

_I figured you'd want to keep your personal style and look authoritative while doing it. There's also a diagram of our military salute: get it memorized; see you tomorrow, eight hundred hours sharp._

_Captain Matsuki_

Smiling from his first order, and pulling the cardboard box open, Cloud found a shoulder pauldron, adorned with two azure stripes and a black peaked cap. Pulling the cap onto his head and doing his damnedest to repress his insecurities of a fate he could not escape, Cloud could only sigh.

**(UPDATED! I've wanted to redo the first couple chapters for a while now, so I'd better get on that). **

**Whoa! Deep stuff right? I understand that Cloud's POV was much longer than Lightning's but I'm hoping the POV's will balance out as the story goes on. If it's not too much, I'd really like you guys to be really hard on this story; so if it sucks: tell me please! Help me get better; Anyway, I hope you guys liked it and don't forget to Review.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Evaluation

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

Captain Strife's complete take-over of the Bodhum regiment had proceeded as smoothly as Captain Matsuki intended; Lightning, however, was not quite as convinced. True, it had been two weeks since Matsuki officially retired and nothing serious had happened during that time but at least Matsuki would associate himself with the rest of the regiment! Captain Strife simply sat in his office doing the mountains of paperwork that Captain Matsuki dreaded doing; that was something else she had in common with her former Captain: she hated the mounds of paperwork sitting in her cubicle, where she sat rubbing the metaphorical cheese grater against her forehead. As she pulled up yet another report that had to be completed and filed, a knock on her cubicle caused her to turn.

"Pardon me Sergeant Farron," said the mousy brown head of Private Flynn "Captain Strife has called for the entire regiment to gather outside…" she didn't have a chance to finish as Lightning hurried out of the tiny space (glad of a distraction from the arduous paperwork).

Lightning and Private Flynn filed out of the building, into the warm air of the courtyard and joined with the rest of the regiment, standing at attention in orderly rows. Lightning had done her best to join as close as she could to Lieutenant Amodar.

"Lieutenant?" she whispered sharply as Captain Strife marched out of the building and stood at attention. "What's going on?" "

"Beats me. Hang on, what the hell is that?" he wondered as a loud humming began emanating from the sky. Lightning turned to find a large, bird-shaped airship emerged from the clouds and began its rapid descent.

"Amodar!" barked Cloud loudly over the roaring wind (Amodar snapped to attention), "That's a Sanctum battle-cruiser, correct?" he asked; the wind suddenly died and the engines onboard the airship began to die.

"Yes sir that would be the _Palamecia_ if I'm not mistaken" replied Amodar. Cloud grunted as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Sir, what in the world is PSICOM doing here?" asked Lightning curiously, her own eyebrows narrowed.

"I'm not sure," replied Cloud slowly and turned to the two of them "But I'm going to find out. Come on, the both of you with me" he ordered and the three of them set off for the airship.

The airship's hatch opened with the hiss of compressed air and several soldiers tromped out of the ship before snapping to attention, their rifles pointed skyward. As the trio halted before them, a woman with long blonde hair, wearing half-rim glasses and clad in a forest green greatcoat, and wrapped around her shoulder were two spiraling blue stripes.

"Good day Captain Strife" she said in a poisonously smooth voice.

"We received your message so suddenly that I couldn't properly ask you," Cloud's voice steady and polite before taking a rather drastic turn as he asked rudely "_Who the hell are you_?"

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Jihl Nabaat of the Public Security and Intelligence Command, Captain" she replied calmly though her eyes shot venomous looks.

"May I ask what PSICOM is doing here, in Bodhum?"

"Under Sanctum orders, your regiment is going to be subject to a weeklong inspection in order for the higher-ups to appropriately evaluate how effectively the regiment is being led" replied Nabaat waving three sheets of paper before them. Lightning's eyebrows rose incredulously: a PSICOM evaluation of a Guardian Corps regiment?!

"I see," Cloud replied calmly, he was silent for a moment as he looked over the papers thrust under his nose "Make yourselves welcome."

Lightning stared at him incredulously, there was no way he was serious about this!

"_Captain_," she hissed edgily but Cloud silenced her with a look of warning, shaking his head slowly. Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat, who had been discussing something with one of her soldiers, turned back to them and smiled a toothy smile that sent disturbing chills down Lightning's spine.

"Thank you Captain, we'll do just that."

Lightning couldn't believe that this had happened: two days of 'evaluation' and the regiment was still intact but she was still in total shock that Captain Strife even agreed to this stupid idea.

Doing her best to put it out of her mind, Lightning took a huge sip of her coffee before plunging back into a report about an incident involving NORA and an unfortunate run-in with loose Sanctum science experiments. As she typed (mentally reciting the event in a monotonous drone that bored even her) there was a knock on her cubicle wall causing her to turn.

Dressed completely in black was a dark-skinned man with a stern look on his face, "Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat wishes to speak to you Sergeant" he said huskily.

Getting up from her report, Lightning followed him down the hall and into the last place she ever expected: the regimental interrogation room. The door opened with a pristine squeak and revealed the whitewashed walls, reflective window and the Lieutenant Colonel sitting at the metallic table; Lightning entered feeling greatly uneasy.

"Your weapon Sergeant" she said abruptly.

"Ma'am?"

"Check your weapon Sergeant" Nabaat repeated acidly. Eyebrows furrowing slightly, Lightning did as ordered and handed over her _Blazefire Saber_ and the three spare ammo cartridges from the pouch on her thigh; the soldier snatched them from her and quickly ejected the loaded clip before slamming them down on the table.

"Please sit Sergeant Farron" said Nabaat, opening her pen with a 'click', as Lightning eyed the soldier, who disrespected her weapon, murderously "How long have you been a member of this regiment?"

"Two years," Lightning answered "Since I graduated high school-"

"-You will answer the question as directed" Nabaat replied coldly as she scribbled on her clipboard.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty" said Lightning coolly

"And you achieved the rank of Sergeant when?"

"Age nineteen, _ma'am_" she added that last with forced politeness.

"How does one become an NCO at such a young age?" asked Nabaat, eyeing her condescendingly. Lightning, who already had a very poor opinion of the Lieutenant Colonel, was slowly transitioning from dislike to downright loathing.

"Captain's recommendation and a sterling military record" replied Lightning, trembling in repressed anger.

"I see" cooed Nabaat as she scribbled on her clipboard. "Your weapon is very interesting" she continued running her finger along the _Blazefire's_ face "How did you get it?"

Lightning wringed her hands angrily, her weapon had already been disrespected once, why did _she_ have to touch it?

"Captain Matsuki trusted me to test it for Guardian Corps usage" Lightning replied calmly;

"Really?" said Nabaat disbelievingly.

"Permission to speak freely, _ma'am_?"

"Granted but I suggest that you change your attitude Sergeant Farron" replied Nabaat nastily, eyeing her with a warning look that Lightning ignored completely.

"What is going on here? This isn't an evaluation, it's straight up interrogation! I know that you don't give a damn about me or my credentials, so might I ask you get to the point?"

Nabaat did not handle this well, obviously not use to such insubordination. "_I do not have to explain myself to you Sergeant_!" she said coldly "However, we can skip the pleasantries! How do you think Captain Strife is handling running the regiment?"

Lightning stared, stunned, caught off guard by the question "What? Er…fine I suppose"

"Has he ever displayed any odd behavior? As if he were attempting to gain information of any kind?"

The new direction of the conversation confused Lightning much worse than before when suddenly it crashed over her like a wave: "_You're interrogating the regiment to get information on our Captain_?"

Nabaat slammed her clipboard down on the metal table "We are simply getting information."

"Captain Matsuki hired an outsider and we are simply gathering intel on possible terrorist activity."

"_Terrorist Activity_?" shouted Lightning incredulously "Are we still talking about the same person?"

"Captain Strife had a fraternization history with the Gaian terrorist cell AVALANCHE! We are simply making sure that he is not planning another incident like in the Sector 7 slums of Midgar!" Nabaat screamed back (both women forgetting rank).

"He saved the continent of Gaia!" Lightning roared back "Besides, AVALANCHE has been inactive for the last three years, so there's no reason to suspect illicit activity! And another thing: Captain Matsuki wouldn't have chosen him for a replacement if he had such suspicions!"

Nabaat sat back in her seat, interlacing her fingers, "You're still extremely loyal to _former_ Captain Ian Matsuki, aren't you?" she asked coolly.

"I trust and respect his decision!" replied Lightning hotly "And Captain Matsuki has _never_ given me _any_ reason to not trust him."

Nabaat pursed her lips in frustration "I believe that we are done here; but mark my words Sergeant Farron" she crossed the table and stood face-to-face with Lightning "If you don't learn some respect, I will see to it personally that your permanent living quarters changes to the stockade! Now get out of my sight!"

Lightning begrudgingly saluted Nabaat and gathered her weapon and clips. As the door was forced open, there was a thud and the rustle of flying papers as Private Flynn collided with Nabaat.

"Oh, Lieutenant Colonel!" she moaned as she dropped to her knees and desperately began trying to retrieve her papers. "I-I-I'm so sorry I didn't mean to—"

"-It's quite all right" said Nabaat taking a startling turn from angry to gentle. "In fact, I've just finished up with Sergeant Farron, why don't you come in here so we can talk."

Lightning stared open-mouthed as Nabaat shot her a nastily victorious grin before closing the door.

"_That evil_, _psychotic woman_!" Lightning thought bitterly as she practiced her gun-kata skills in the training room. She struck the tattered dummy (a picture of Nabaat's face taped to its head for inspiration) once in a downward diagonal, upward in the same fashion, then in the other direction, pushing off into a powerful backflip Lightning held out her sword, taking into account _Blazefire's_ transformation lag time, before launching several hot slugs that splattered reddish paint across the plastic torso before finishing the combination.

A sound from behind startled Lightning, throwing out her arm, she held her blade at the neck of a young man with sandy colored hair.

"Whoa, Whoa! Easy there," said Sergeant O'Bannon pacifyingly and then added jokingly "What? Did you have a bad meeting with Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat?"

Lightning rolled her eyes as she turned away from him and in an almost invisible move, struck the dummy with her sword, watching (with deep satisfaction) as the head bounced off of the floor.

"I'll take that as a yes," said O'Bannon cautiously;

"That foul, sadistic woman!" roared Lightning as she smashed more paint onto the decapitated head "Where does she get off interrogating us about our Captain being a terrorist? Who the hell thinks up that crap?"

"Yeah she is a piece of work" agreed O'Bannon "After you she gave Private Flynn a really rough time. Poor kid was in tears by the time she was finished."

"What about you?"

"She tried pulling the rug from underneath my feet and playing me against myself" replied O'Bannon sheepishly "But that tactic ultimately failed because I'm not as well connected as you are."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Lightning sharply only to have her fellow Sergeant wave his hands calmingly.

"Slow your roll Farron, I didn't mean anything by it; all I meant is that Nabaat knows what your relationship with Lieutenant Amodar and what your past relationship with Captain Matsuki was and she thought she could manipulate that to get information on Captain Strife."

"She did, did she?" thought Lightning angrily "Well obviously she was wrong!"

"Listen Farron, all I'm saying is that you need to be careful around the Lieutenant Colonel." (Lightning eyed him crossly) "Look, you said it yourself: the woman is psychotic! She's going to do everything in her power to use us to get to the Captain, and your little shouting match didn't help the situation-yes Farron, we all know about _your_ talk with Nabaat," he added noting Lightning's look of confusion "She reported you to the Captain.

"Don't worry" he said, noting Lightning's disgusted sigh "I know for a fact that Captain Strife was _on the phone_ when Nabaat reported you and _failed_ to notice when Lieutenant Amodar slipped it into the shredder" laughed O'Bannon.

"How do you know all of that?"

"Ouch Farron, that hurts!" joked O'Bannon, clutching his heart as though wounded, "Have you forgotten that I specialized in Espionage and Reconnaissance in the academy?"

Lightning eyed him dubiously before he slunk his shoulders and confessed "Okay, fine; Corporal Callen told me! Geez Light you still kick my ass at interrogation!"

"There's no skill involved, you're just a bad liar" said Lightning dryly as O'Bannon howled with laughter, the door to the training room opened with a 'whir' and two Privates (one blonde and the other red-headed) entered, dressed in grey workout clothing.

"How are we supposed to trust him?" asked the blonde Private Benoit

"I know what you mean!" replied Private McGregor

"And who would we be talking about ladies?" chimed O'Bannon curiously, causing the two Privates to jump.

"Captain Strife sir," they said in unison snapping off crisp salutes.

"Why were you discussing the Captain?" asked Lightning tersely.

"Well, after all of the things that Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat has been saying about him, I mean how are we supposed to trust him? All he's done since PSICOM showed up, is sit in his office! If Captain Matsuki were still here-"

"-Don't ever speak that way about our Captain!" spat Lightning, causing the two women to cringe. "And do yourselves a favor, don't listen the Lieutenant Colonel and her stupid rumors! She's just trying to get us to turn on Captain Strife!"

Before Sergeant O'Bannon could make another soothing remark, the door flew open and Amodar came charging into the room, his portly belly jiggling and he was panting heavily.

"GET A MOVE ON!" he shouted excitedly to the tense room.

"What's happening sir?" asked O'Bannon, surprised at seeing the Lieutenant move so quickly.

"The techie's at R&D have just finished the new training manikins and _Captain Strife is going to test them_!" Placing her training blade within in its leather sheath, Lightning filed out of the room with the rest.

…

Lined against the windows of the observation room were the team of gray-clad technicians and their Senior Officer (a dark skinned man, who looked like an elderly lion, with a mane of long greying hair).

"Come on in everyone," he said gruffly. Lightning crammed her way in amongst the multitudes of soldiers she found, to her utmost displeasure, that they were being joined by Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat.

"Ooooh!" squealed Privates McGregor and Benoit; Captain Strife entered into the training room, expressionless and fully armed. Lightning watched him curiously: she was quite aware that every warrior had their own, unique, battle style but she'd never met a warrior with (she quickly counted) _six swords_.

"Okay Captain," came the voice of the Senior Technician opening the door at the far end of the room and unveiling several large, silver robots, each wielding a thin bladed sword and an automatic gun. "COMMENCING BATTLE IN THREE…TWO…ONE."

An air horn resounded across the room; drawing the largest of his six and one that was shaped like a long V, the Captain lunged forward.

Lightning simply watched, even though her colleagues oohed and aahed with wide, ogling eyes, she was thoroughly impressed at his swordplay. Most soldiers using swords that size could only wield one at a time and nowhere near as fluidly; Cloud seemed to move as if he were performing a very dangerous but very precise dance. Ducking out of the reach of one of the dummies attacks, and moving his blades in an X formation, Cloud quickly smashed both weapons onto the thin sword, snapping it like a twig. She stared in curiosity as the Captain placed his weapons together and, when he removed his hand, appeared to be frozen together; dragging his weapon across in more of a smash-type attack, Cloud broke through several more of the thin swords.

"Sword combat complete," came the mechanized voice that rang throughout the training floor "Now commencing firearm combat."

As Cloud drew one of his two long swords, the robots primed their guns; "Don't worry Captain" said the Head Engineer "The manikins will only be using paint slugs."

COMMENCING BATTLE IN THREE…TWO…ONE. The air horn echoed across the empty room. The manikins opened fire, but something was wrong; paint slugs fired with the sound of rapid release of compressed air and were fairly quiet, these were spewing fire at an earsplitting level. Cloud took immediate evasive maneuvers.

"What the hell?!" screamed one of the technicians "They're firing live rounds!"

"Shut them down!" roared the Senior tech; the team typed furiously on their keyboards only to end up banging on them in frustration.

"All systems are nonresponsive! The emergency override has been neutralized!" reported one of the young technicians.

"WHAT THE RUDDY HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"

Lightning turned from the techs back to the training floor, watching as Cloud ran to evade the swarm of angry bullets pursuing him. She stared in amazement as he took a hard left turn and shot towards the manikins, swinging his blades like deadly fans, before two of them dropped to the floor legless. Quickly fusing his third blade to the, already, giant sword, Cloud drew his saw-toothed long sword as he turned on his heel, slicing cleanly through the gun and then thrusting the tip of his large sword through the center of the manikin's head. As the Captain melded the long sword and one of the short swords, Lightning tensed as two manikins shot forward, guns poised; obviously noticing this too, Cloud whipped out his second dagger-sword and caught the gun barrels pointed upward and discharging ammo dangerously close to his head.

In a masterful move, Cloud twisted on his heel, extending his arms, and flinging the manikins into the far walls and ending their barrage; the observation room burst into cheers and applause. Lightning grinned: he really was the warrior that all of his stories made him out to be. However, in the corner of her eye, she could see Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat looking furious and then watched as her face split into a nasty smile. Following her gaze, Lightning turned back to the training floor, in time to see Cloud fuse his final blade to his sword (noting how much it resembled an oversized butter knife) and a final manikin putting away its gun and drawing its thin sword as it approached him, silently. Then something strange happened: Cloud appeared to become very calm as he was enveloped in a ghostly azure fire and then (as the flames dispersed) he attacked his almost-assailant.

His first attack parrying the manikin's sword, striking with a cross-slash that fluidly transitioned into a guillotine like downward assault; dragging his sword upward, Cloud twisted into another powerful attack. Finally, hauling the blade from atop his head, he brought it crashing through the robot; his next four attacks were high-speed flurries, visible only by two deep lacerations in the metal body and the robot's sudden lack of arms. Pushing back into a masterful backflip and following through with an expert skyward leap (sword high above his head): Cloud executed the final attack, a perfectly downward slash that cut straight through the robot's body like a hot knife cutting butter. The two halves of the robot smashed to the ground with a dull thud; Lightning stared at him in utter astonishment and she could tell, by simple common sense, that she wasn't the only one to do so.

After placing his large broadsword onto his back, Cloud collapsed onto one knee, huffing tiredly; Lightning found herself darting out of the room behind the team of Technicians and Lieutenant Amodar.

"Are you alright Captain?" wheezed Amodar as they jogged onto the training floor; Cloud nodded.

"HE WAS THE PROTOTYPE!" cried a young technician, cradling a half of the manikins head in each hand before another added overdramatically "WHY MUST THE GOOD DIE YOUNG!"

"Never mind that you idiots!" snapped the Senior Technician "I want to know how the manikins got live ammunition! Hop to it!"

As the team of techies set off to work and Amodar escorted Cloud out of the room for a drink, Lightning stared at one of the two functioning manikins left: it sported a large dent in its head, stupidly swishing a broken sword around and continuously walked into the wall. Unsheathing her practice weapon, she trained her full attention to the manikin; Captain Strife's technique was flawless but extraordinarily powerful and even though her weapon was completely different from his, Lightning figured: If he could do it, the so could she.

Lightning charged; mimicking what she'd seen earlier, she parried the unsuspecting manikin's sword with a cross-slash, then the downward guillotine, the upward spiral, but as she brought the blade down from high over her head the tip 'whooshed' passed, completely missing its target. Lightning's eyes widened in surprise as the flow of attacks ceased and became little more than a fancy kata; going for broke, she pushed into the backflip and final leap (if the attack was successful the sword would cut straight through the head). However, the sword missed the head entirely, but buried four inches of steel, several inches into the manikin torso (where the collarbone would be located) before it snapped cleanly in half.

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" screeched a technician as the manikin came to a halt and then a team of technicians began shouting a stream of shouts and curses as they arrived and tried to dislodge the blade fragment from the robot.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU FARRON?!" screamed the purple faced Senior Tech, spraying her with spit. Lightning took the scolding from the Senior Technician without a word, but her mind was elsewhere: she couldn't do what Captain Strife had done so easily. Her blade didn't have the length or the weight to handle the requirements for the attack nor did it have the strength to carry out the final blow. Staring down at the broken blade in her hand, Lightning remembered her former disdain for it: the katana-gunblade was an exact replica of her _Blazefire Saber _in weight, length and durability but it was nowhere close to the eloquence or the subtlety of her personal weapon. However, it had saved Blazefire from this condition and she felt a surge of affection towards it.

"What's the problem here?" came a sharp, inquisitive voice; Lightning and the Senior Technician turned only to find Captain Strife eyeing them both curiously and looking scandalized.

"C-Captain," sputtered the Senior Tech snapping into a salute "I-I-I…W-what I mean is, sir"

Captain Strife nodded in understanding "Why don't you let _me_ handle it?" he said supportively.

"Er…sir!" he said in agreement before turning back to his team and fallen robot. The Captain turned his gaze to Lightning, and then looked at the damaged manikin and then down to her broken sword.

"Well this is a bit of a surprise," he said gently, "I come back to offer my condolences for their hard work and I find this." To Lightning's astonishment, he actually laughed; "Trying to copy my technique, eh?" he said lightly; lost for words, solely because he wasn't throwing her into the stockade, Lightning accidently dropped her weapon but nodded.

"It's called the _Omnislash_," he said bending down to pick up the fallen weapon; he examined it for a moment, "No wonder, I doubt even I could have done it with this."

Lightning's eyebrows contracted; an insult to a warrior's weapon was an indirect insult to the warrior using it.

"This weapon is similar to my personal weapon in every way" she said icily,

"I see" said Cloud flipping the broken sword so Lightning could take the handle "In that case, I don't think it can be done."

"What does that mean?" asked Lightning bitingly "You saying that I can't do it because of my weapon, or are you insinuating that you're just better than me?"

"No," said Cloud calmly "I'm challenging you to improve it."

Lightning opened her mouth to respond but quickly shut it, dumbfounded.

"I have to warn you though, I've got two more renditions of it so good luck with that" he said lightheartedly "Oh and…er…don't break the robot again." he said before turning and pausing Lightning stared disbelievingly, wondering if Captain Matsuki had found his younger clone, but her gaze turned upward, as Cloud paused.

Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat stood before him, scribbling something onto her clipboard, and then left, not before shooting Cloud an angry look. Lightning's mouth bent into a frown and her eyebrows contracted; suddenly coming up with a prime suspect as to who switched the dummy ammo for live ones.

**[Time Skip…The Next Day]**

"You look awful Sergeant Farron!" spewed Private Benoit the next morning; Lightning was exhausted. She'd spent a sleepless night watching the replay footage of the _Omnislash_ and coordinating an improved attack.

"Really, I feel fantastic" she snapped sarcastically and poured herself her fourth cup of coffee. Though her snap was harsh and unfair, Lightning was rather pleased with the progress she'd made in a single night; the door opened with a small click and Sergeant O'Bannon stepped in, looking slightly harassed.

"You got to come quick!" he said quickly.

"Why?" asked Lightning, her mind immediately jumping to the worst "_What's she done now_?"

"Just come on! It's Private Flynn!" he barked impatiently; Private Benoit gasped before darting out the room. Lightning and O'Bannon traipsed into large lobby, where they found it crammed full of soldiers, save for a little room at the front where the Lieutenant Colonel stood before a terrified looking Private.

"What's going?" whispered Lightning to Private McGregor.

"It's awful" she hissed angrily "She's firing Maggie in front of the entire Corps!"

Benoit gasped "What! Why?"

"Intimidation," said O'Bannon darkly "The sadistic woman is doing this to set an example!"

"Private Maggie Flynn" Nabaat's voice boomed as if she were performing onstage "For your repeated accounts of incompetency and complete disrespect to Sanctum officers, you are henceforth being given twenty-four hours to clear out your workspace and leave this base permanently."

The Private, who was sobbing uncontrollably, whimpered "P-please Lieutenant Colonel, I-I have a f-family to support, d-don't do this."

Nabaat smiled callously "I'm afraid that I'm disinclined to acquiesce that request."

The cruel words were too much for the Private, who crumpled to her knees and burst into hysterical tears; Lightning's hand was balled in a tight fist, the injustice of the whole of affair was absolutely sickening.

"CAPTAIN APPROACHING, TEN-HUT!" cried some soldier in the jumble, causing every soldier to snap to attention. Captain Strife walked briskly into the room standing tall and strong, followed by Lieutenant Amodar, and looked at Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat with lividly glowing eyes.

"Lieutenant," he said in a steady voice "Would you mind escorting Private Flynn back to her cubicle?"

"Oh, th-th-thank you C-C-Captain," Flynn blubbered as Amodar lead her away; Nabaat shot Cloud equally livid looks.

"Captain Strife, you are aware that, by Sanctum orders, I am here to evaluate you and your squadron and if I am not mistaken-"

"-I believe that you are!" Cloud interjected icily causing Nabaat to look taken aback. "You have, by rank, the power to tell off my soldiers, but I do not know where you heard that you have the authority to discharge them from the Corp because I can assure you that _that_ ability remains with the Captain of the Regiment, i.e. _me_."

"You forget your place Captain Strife," she replied hotly; the look she gave Cloud was one that would have made much stronger men cringe in fear, only he was too angry to notice.

"Wrong again, Lieutenant Colonel" he said, eyes calm but voice like an angry lion "Captain Matsuki left all of these men and women in my charge and, until there isn't a breath left in my body, I will defend each one of them just like the civilians of Bodhum!"

Nabaat opened her mouth but quickly closed it, looking flustered, "Perhaps we can continue this conversation in private" she hissed through gritted teeth.

"My office…now" said Cloud his voice shaking with rage; as the Lieutenant Colonel marched, Cloud spat disgustedly, following suit "AS YOU WERE!"

Lightning stood stone still as all of her colleagues filed out of the lobby, deep in thought; had the Captain meant what he said? Or was it something that he felt obliged to say in front of them? Snapping herself out of her thought bubble, Lightning proceeded out of the room and soon enough found herself in the lounge pouring a mug of coffee. In all of her years serving in the military, Lightning had only known the lounge to be crammed full of soldiers when they were having a private, unofficial meeting.

"Man, the Lieutenant Colonel is a piece of work!" said a girlish voice.

"I know! I mean, poor Maggie" was the reply. Lightning turned to find Privates McGregor and Benoit.

"How is she?"

"She's in a right state, Sergeant" replied Benoit "She's all shook up, but Lieutenant Amodar says that she'll be fine once she calms down."

"It's a good thing the Captain was there to save her."

"Do you think he meant what he said?" asked Benoit "About him defending us I mean?"

"I believe he did" said O'Bannon pompously "I mean that's not something that you throw around lightly! And honestly, I think it's exactly what Captain Matsuki would have said;" the room rumbled in mutual agreement.

"You know what?" said McGregor in a booming voice "We should do something for the Captain, you know? Make him an appreciative dinner or something!"

There was another rumble of agreement; "Sure" said Lightning rolling her eyes and taking a deep sip of her coffee.

"Great!" boomed the Private and then said in one breath "I-nominate-Sergeant-Farron-for-the-task-all-those-in-favor-say-'aye'-AYE!"

"AYE!" they roared in unison (Lightning spit out her drink in shock)

"Well it's unanimous," said Benoit, laughing sheepishly.

"What; Why me? Why not get Private Flynn to do it?!" asked Lightning, setting down her mug and crossing her arms.

"Well, we would but…" started the McGregor "You saw how she handled today…it'd be a miracle if she could hold a pen correctly for the rest of the day… and besides, other than Lieutenant Amodar, you're the only one who's not afraid of the Captain."

"Excuse me?" said Lightning in an incredulous whisper "Who else is afraid of the Captain?" Almost every hand in the room went up.

"WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?" thundered Lightning "HE SHOWED ALL OF YOU HOW STRONG HE WAS…HE STUCK HIS NECK OUT FOR ALL US TODAY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU AFRAID OF?!"

"Well-" said both Privates meekly, twiddling their thumbs "—you're just proving our point."

"HERE, HERE!" roared Sergeant O'Bannon "WE'RE ALL IN AGREEMENT, CASE CLOSED…er…DISMISSED!"

As all of the soldiers practically out of the room, they left behind a seething Lightning soaking in the fact that she'd been set up.

Lightning swore loudly as she pulled her dish from her piece of junk oven; the stupid thing would quickly char anything cooked in it if it wasn't properly monitored. How in the hell she got stuck with the job of cooking the Captain an appreciative dinner, she'd never figure out. As she began plotting her revenge against her colleagues, Lightning threw the semi-burned meal onto a burner when two dull thuds reached her ears as someone knocked on the door, "It's open" barked Lightning.

"Hey Sis!" came a cheerful voice that made Lightning roll her eyes in annoyance.

"I'm not your sister Snow!" she retorted harshly.

"Hi Lightning," said Serah, Lighting's younger sister and smaller clone, "What are you doing?" she asked, sniffing the faint traces of smoke.

"I'm making an appreciative dinner for my Captain" she said fanning the steaming food with a pot holder.

"Ah, _Lightning surprise_; I wonder what flavor the food will take this time," said Snow jokingly but Lightning was not amused.

"What does that mean?" she snapped "Its lasagna!"

Snow threw up his hands to avoid an unnecessary fight.

"So...er…why are you making your Captain dinner?" asked Serah in a pacifying tone. Lightning went on to explain what had happened with the Sanctum evaluation and how Cloud had stuck out his own neck for all of them.

"Whoa!" breathed an impressed Snow "Your new Captain sounds like a real hero, kind of guy I'd like to meet."

"Maybe," said Lightning as she packed the semi-burnt lasagna into a thermal carrying bag "But from what I've seen, Cloud isn't much of a people person."

"Cloud?" gasped an awestruck Snow "your Captain is _Cloud Strife_? The hero from Gaia?" Lightning's eyebrows furrowed as she nodded, "Can we come?" asked Snow excitedly "It would be awesome to meet a real hero!"

"No," said Lightning quickly.

"Aw come on," he begged.

Lightning stood adamantly, his charm may work on Serah, but not her.

"No!"

"Please Light,"

"NO!"

"PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!"

"This is so cool!" said Snow as the three of them walked up the sand ridden side walk.

Lightning's lips were pursed and was in a very sour mood; with enough incessant begging and a little persuasion from Serah, she'd simply been annoyed into submission.

"Listen," she said sharply "This may not be a business trip, but he _is_ my boss! So no wisecracks and no pestering him; Serah, you're okay, but Snow please try and act your age!"

"No problem sis, I got it under control" Snow laughed as they turned into the _Leviathan's Paradise_ motel and proceeded up the driveway to the King's Suite.

"Oh, AWESOME!" cried Snow upon eying Cloud's motorcycle, "Man you're boss has got style!" he said throwing a leg over and mounted the bike. Lightning eyed him venomously.

"Snow get off of that!" said Serah quickly "I'm sure Captain Strife wouldn't appreciate you messing around on his bike without permission." Snow chuckled sheepishly but quickly dismounted.

"_Are you quite done_?" hissed Lightning still shooting him filthy looks. She turned on her heel, after one last disgusted sigh, and mashed her thumb onto the doorbell.

**~o Cloud's POV o~**

Cloud was in agonizing pain; he could only, helplessly, grip at his sheets and mattress as his body ripped itself apart in a sharp, blinding fire. Suddenly, a particularly powerful throb burst in his chest and spots of dark crimson erupted from his mouth and staining the bed. Raggedly breathing and shifting his gaze, Cloud's eyes fell upon the metal crate hidden away inside his closet; rolling out of bed and hitting the floor with a numbed thud, Cloud clawed his way to the only help that he had. Punching open the box and rummaging around, he pulled out a handful of the tiny crystal orbs; a fresh wave of white-hot pain surged through his body, Cloud convulsed (his arm becoming rigid and spilling the Materia with a clatter). Blindly flailing an arm out and curling his fingers around one of them, Cloud crashed it into his chest; his back collided hard with the wooden floor but relief was immediate as his convulsions began to stop and the pain alleviating.

He lay panting heavily and sweat rolling down his body; using the bed as a leverage, Cloud lifted himself up off the floor, feeling lightheaded and dizzy. He moved gingerly into the living room, his boot rocketing an empty bottle across the wooden floor; stooping over and grabbing the bottle, Cloud stared at the empty liquor bottle. After another day of "evaluation" and that last fight with that boorish excuse for a Lieutenant Colonel, he'd come home to do something he rarely ever did: drink. Unfortunately, one drink had turned into a whole bottle of alcohol as he tried to drown his frustration and depression in booze.

A loud, sudden '_ding_-_dong_' echoed throughout the room causing him to jump; quickly regaining his composure, Cloud moved down the carpeted stairs and peered through the peephole on his door. Outside the door was Sergeant Farron, a pink-haired girl who looked exactly like her and a toe-headed man clad in a white trench coat; he pulled the door open, and looked at them with a confused look on his face.

"Er, good evening Captain" said Lightning awkwardly "Uh, I'm here to thank you on behalf of the entire regiment and…er…these two tagged along for the ride" she pointed at her companions. The man looked absolutely starstruck before stepping forward and grabbing his hand in a handshake that nearly ripped his arm out of its socket.

"It's an honor to meet you sir, I'm Vow Snilliers…er, no I-I-I mean…uh, er…crap, what's my name?"

Lightning looked positively mortified, "Shut up Snow!" she snapped "And shut your mouth, you're drooling!" (Snow shot a hand over his mouth).

"It's a pleasure to meet you Captain Strife, I'm Lightning's sister, Serah" said the pink-haired girl, extending a hand.

Cloud took it with a small "The pleasure is all mine. Er, why don't you come in?"

Leading the trio into his humble abode, Cloud ran his fingers through his hair with a sigh "I'm sorry Farron but I still don't quite understand what you're doing here."

"Well sir the whole regiment was so appreciative of you standing up for us, we wanted to thank you for it and…" she sighed in a frustrated manor "…I was _elected_ to do the honor of thanking you with dinner."

As she held up a blue thermal bag the man called Snow leaned in a whispered, indiscreetly "She claims that it's lasagna but I wouldn't believe it."

Lightning glared at him, causing him to laugh jubilantly.

"Sure, whatever" said Cloud, finding himself grinning, he moved over to his kitchen counter, dived underneath into the cabinet before pulling out four white paper plates and a bag of plastic cutlery.

"I didn't have time to get some real ones" he said witnessing Serah and Lightning's amazed looks; when Lightning opened the thermal bag and revealed the steaming plate, it dawned on him how hungry he really was.

Carving a corner of the lasagna into four blocks, he shoveled them onto each plate; tearing open the bag of forks, Cloud dished one out to each. The steaming block cut easily (despite being slightly blackened) and, after blowing on it profusely, scooped it into his mouth; it was extremely hot but extraordinarily tasty.

"It's very good Light" he complemented through a mouthful of hot food.

"You're kidding!" said Snow incredulously, only to get sharply nudged in the ribs by Serah.

"No it _is_ delicious," replied Cloud calmly but firmly "Thank you Lightning"

"You're welcome sir" she replied as she blew on her own slice of food.

Cloud put down his fork in slight annoyance, "We're off duty Lightning, so just call me Cloud."

Looking slightly uneasy, Lightning replied as calmly as possible "Sure Cloud." The four of them ate in silence for several moments until someone finally spoke.

"So Cloud, Lightning has been telling me and about the evaluation" said Serah "How do you feel that it is going?"

Cloud could feel the shockingly wide "Matsuki grin" split across his face, "Lieutenant Colonel Jihl Nabaat is one of the most arrogant and egocentric people that I've ever met! Yet much like the others, she underestimated me."

"What do you mean?" asked Lightning with raised eyebrows.

"I think she expected me to just roll over and let her do as she pleased, but after today's activities I had little chat with the Sanctum. Turns out they never authorized an evaluation on the Bodhum Regiment! So it seems that Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat will be investigated on the whole affair."

"Serves her right!" said Lightning savagely.

"Now hold on," said Cloud pacifyingly "I do agree that Nabaat is a sociopath who couldn't have a normal human relationship if the opportunity slapped her arrogant face (Snow sniggered loudly). However, it is not going to accomplish anything to sink to her level."

Lightning defiantly didn't respond but reluctantly concurred "You're right."

There was another moment of silence.

"Well, er…" said Serah clearing her throat awkwardly, "I think I could use a little fresh air; Snow care to join me?"

"What for?" asked Snow rather stupidly; Serah nudged his shoulder sharply. "Oh!" said Snow comprehendingly (Cloud thought he could literally see a light bulb turn on in his head) "Yeah sure, whatever you say" the two of them stood up and quickly exited leaving Cloud and Lightning in silence.

The room had become unimaginably awkward, "_Why did they have to leave_?" Cloud wondered, feeling his cheeks burn slightly. His relationship with Lightning was strictly professional but he couldn't help feel inept around her sociably (especially after he'd asked her out not two minutes after meeting her).

"I heard from Sergeant O'Bannon that you disregarded the Lieutenant Colonel's report about me," she said suddenly; Cloud to turn to her with a surprised look on his face. "Why did you? Not that I'm ungrateful…" she added quickly "…I just don't understand."

Cloud swallowed the bite of lasagna in his mouth and replied "Because you stood up to her. You showed her that she didn't intimidate everyone in the regiment. Plus, I couldn't criticize or punish what I would have done."

Lightning smiled appreciatively "I think I'll go collect the others and leave you in peace" she said rising to her feet.

"I'll walk you out" said Cloud quickly also standing. The two of them walked down the carpeted staircase and, as he opened the door, found a sight that neither of them was prepared for: Serah laughing at Snow, who was posing on Fenrir.

Lightning slapped a hand over face in embarrassment as Cloud cleared his throat, causing the two of them to look at him like deer caught in the headlights.

"Oh, er, Cloud I-I-I'm sorry I-I-I didn't mean to intrude…" Snow sputtered as he quickly stood only to be silenced as Cloud held up a hand.

Finally he freed a surrendering sigh, "Alright get it out of your system, but don't let my landlady see you!"

"Why?" asked Serah looking as amazed as the other two.

"Have you _seen_ my landlady?" asked Cloud thinking chilled thoughts of that anatomically impossible grin.

"This is really cool!" said Snow returning to a sitting position "So what kind of engine does she run on-WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST DO?!" he roared, throwing his hands into the air as the side compartments to split open, causing the wolfish bike to look more like a porcupine.

"Relax" said Cloud an amused grin "It's just my weapons compartment; they tend to do that when you hit the silver button on the dash."

"Oh," said Snow sheepishly, ruffling his hair with a grin.

"So these are the swords that defeated Sephiroth" said Lightning, regarding them with respect.

"Yes" said Cloud distantly "They're also the only family I have left; these are the parents: _Ascalon_ and _Avenger_" he said holding up his largest broadsword and the hollowed sword. Replacing _Avenger_ and automatically placing _Ascalon_ in his harness, he picked up the two long swords, "This is _Vigilante_ and her brother _Vendetta_" he said noting the one with the saw-toothed edge. "And these are the twins" he held up the two dagger-like swords "_Merciless_ and _Sidewinder_."

"Cool," breathed Snow.

"Cloud, what is that sword? The one in the corner," asked Serah, referencing a beautiful sword that looked like an oversized knife.

"No way" gasped Snow quickly, dismounting Fenrir and moving towards it "That's the _Buster Sword_; that was the first sword to kill Sephiroth!"

Cloud watched curiously as Snow picked the sword up ("It's so light" he commented reverently).

"Hey! Show a little respect!" barked Lightning, snatching the sword from Snow, flipping it reverse in her hand, and holding out the handle to Cloud, who took it with a curious look.

"Well Cloud it has been nice, thank you again, but we really must get going" said Lightning calmly though she began herding Serah off but dragging Snow away by his ear. Cloud could hear him whimper in pain "Ouch, Geroff…Light you've got my ear-ow, ow, ow!"

Absentmindedly waving as they left, Cloud's gaze was fixated on the _Buster Sword_ with a mixed look of curiosity and confusion. That last time he'd seen his old sword was back on Gaia, where it was guarding the Lifestream infused spring in the Sector 5 church. Gripping the swords velvety handle, Cloud placed it in the Fenrir's weapon slot where he usually kept _Ascalon_. As the weapons compartment closed with the whir of machinery, Cloud cricked his neck as he turned so fast to face the beach, where a ghostly howl danced across the still waters of the night.

**~o Special POV o~**

It was late; the apartment room was enveloped in a suffocating black, save for a brightly lit computer screen, at which a portly Lieutenant worked tirelessly. Amodar's mission from the Captain was too important to let go cold; Captain's Strife's, though rightly placed, distrust of PSICOM was borderline obsessive. He stifled a yawn; the Captain had assigned him an extremely covert mission: spy on PSICOM as they were doing to them. He'd spent two sleepless nights researching, reading and digging up files that were older than him to find an answer to a question that, quite frankly, he wasn't sure of himself.

Clicking on yet another random folder, Amodar's eyes peaked curiously as he examined the report from the Euride Gorge power plant.

"A kid was made into a Sanctum l'Cie?" he read, then something occurred to him: in all of his years of training, he'd not once come across a Pulsian l'Cie but lately there had been a dramatic spike in the creation of Sanctum ones. With the idea coursing through his brain, Amodar quickly typed in on his keyboard, keywords: _Sanctum l'Cie_…_PSICOM_. The results normally would have been pointless, as the two went hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly, but he quickly dived into the heart of the question, the PSICOM mainframe. Amodar shuddered slightly, if he was caught trying to hack into government mainframe, he stopped, not wanting to think about it.

He punched in a run sequence code, and with a reassuring color change from red to green, Amodar knew with confidence that he was in. Continuing onwards, he sifted through a record of past l'Cie and finally came across a link that existed on the very bottom of the page. Following it, he came across the names of two Fal'Cie that he'd never heard of before and…

"No," said Amodar disbelievingly, his eyes widening with horror. "They can't be serious; do they realize what kind of damage that would do to Cocoon?"

Amodar reached for his phone when something curious caught his eye: a small red dot, dancing across his chest; following it as it danced upward, it was blinding him as it stared him directly in the eye. There was a loud tinkle of shattering glass and the distant rumble of thunder and Lieutenant Amodar knew no more.

**(UPDATED) Yes folks, I'm introducing the Special POV…I'll do these occasionally when I find it necessary to tell the story from a different perspective or if I need a simple transition. Anyway, this chapter took me a long time to write so I messed up anywhere, please let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3: The Attack

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

Bodies…six bodies drenched in the overpowering stench of blood; among them were the bodies of a bronze skinned woman and two kids: a red-haired girl and blond boy. Confused and horrified, Cloud turned to run from them only to find the blood-soaked bodies of the bush pilot he'd met on Spira, Snow and Lightning. Unable to face them anymore than the other three, Cloud turned tail as quickly as possible only to be halted by the mangled, standing corpses of the first three.

"Why'd you do it?" asked the woman behind a heavily slashed face and a heavy accent, "Why'd you let him kill us?"

"We trusted you" said the girl with the same accent but a deep stab wound was visible through the center of her stomach.

"But you didn't care," said the boy, a long slash across his chest "You ran away and left us all to die!"

"No!" Cloud mumbled, aghast.

"You're supposed to be the hero," came a voice from behind. Cloud turned sharply to find the other three, standing and equally mangled.

"Why didn't you save us, huh _hero_?" barked the slashed and bloodstained body of the bush pilot.

"Heroes never run away" grunted Snow holding his blood soaked chest "Are you really who you say you are, or are you just a fraud?"

Staring, terrified, at each of them, Cloud made eye contact with Lightning's body (also heavily slashed) and spluttered "NO, I—THIS W-WASN'T SUPPOSED TO-" but all that Lightning said, with clear disgust in her voice, was

"We trusted you."

"We trusted you, We trusted you" the six of them began to chant.

Cloud watched in horror as their voices began melding together in a deafening echo.

"No, I didn't mean to kill you, none of you were supposed to die," whimpered Cloud, trying to calm and appease them but they only chanted louder: "WE TRUSTED YOU, WE TRUSTED YOU!"

He slapped his hands over his ears, closing his eyes and crumpled to his knees; "_WE TRUSTED YOU_, _WE TRUSTED YOU_!"

"NO!" Cloud screamed at the top of his lungs. Suddenly, everything had gone absolutely still; opening his eyes and removing his hands, breathing heavily, Cloud found all six of them (still encircling him) but back on the ground, dead just he'd found them. Suddenly, a single black feather came floating slowly to the ground; Cloud followed it with wide, terrified Mako eyes. Looking upward, he saw the silver-haired SOLDIER, wing extended and long sword stained scarlet. He was smiling at Cloud, an evil smile and vengeful Mako green eyes.

"NO!"

His eyelids popping open and he shot upward, only to find his dark, silent bedroom. Still breathing heavily, Cloud dragged a hand down his sweaty face,

"A dream," he said calmingly "Only a dream."

However, the words weren't as comforting as he pretended that they were; he searched his memory banks as best that he could, but finally concluded that he didn't know the bronze skinned woman or either of the kids. However, he was truly troubled by the bodies of an innocent bush pilot, one of his own soldiers and a civilian. Plopping his head back onto his pillow, Cloud turned to his clock: it was four in the morning; he sighed deeply, there would be no going back to sleep now. Having fallen asleep in his uniform again, he climbed out of bed and wandered aimlessly into the pitch black living room.

"Why was Sephiroth there?" he wondered as he dropped onto the sofa; he was dead…he was in the Lifestream…why did he still plague Cloud, even on the subconscious level? Then it hit him: Shelke! She might know what's happening to him; grabbing his phone and punching in her number, Cloud found himself unable to hit the send button. This was ridiculous! A grown man running to his doctor because he had a bad dream?

"_God Cloud_, _are you a man or an 'effing' moogle_?!" he chastised himself, snapping his phone shut. Dropping the phone back onto the coffee table, Cloud ruffled his hair; but something surged across his ears, a high-pitched whistle that was gradually growing louder.

There was an earsplitting BOOM; the world shook violently (Cloud hit the floor with a hand over his head). As the quake began to alleviate, he rocketed to his feet and tore open the deck doors; pushing past the cold morning air and overpowering tang of salt, Cloud leaned as far over the deck railing as possible only to find a horrifying sight. The boardwalk at the end of the beach was engulfed in massive flames and billowing clouds of black smoke; his phone began to ring. Snatching it up, Cloud put it to his ear.

"I'm sorry to wake you sir" said a shaky voice on the other end "But-"

"-Skip the formalities!" barked Cloud "I can see it from where I am, what's going on?"

"We're receiving messages from squads on patrol from down there sir, they're reporting sights of Pulsian technology; it's a raid sir!"

"SOUND THE ALARM!" Cloud roared into the tiny handheld, "TELL ALL SQUARDONS WITHIN THE VICINITY TO HOLD THEM BACK AS LONG AS POSSIBLE! GET AS MANY TROOPS IN THERE FOR SUPPORT. CIVILIAN SAFETY IS OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY, HAVE ALL RESERVE TROOPS OVERSEE CIVILIAN EVAC! I'LL BE THERE IN TEN MINUTES, I WANT ALL OF THAT DONE WITHIN THAT TIME, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!"

"SIR!" the voice roared back. Closing his phone and stuffing it roughly in his pocket, Cloud dashed out of the motel room, down the stairs and mounted Fenrir hurriedly.

"Captain, Captain!" came a voice; he looked up to find the landlady (clad in a maroon bathrobe) and several other tenants of the motel charging up the driveway.

"What in the world is going on?" she asked looking highly disheveled; Cloud thought hard about his answer, he knew that the people of Cocoon were terrified of Pulse and he already had enough on his plate without being responsible for a panic.

"Bodhum is under attack," he said slowly.

"An attack?" cried a disbelieving tenant "It's Pulse! They'll kill us! _What do we do_?"

"Listen!" said Cloud loudly, silencing all of them and turning their full attention to him, "Get your families and get out of town as quickly as possible, take only what you need but get out of Bodhum for time being. Now if you'll excuse me, my soldiers need me!"

They stepped out of the way quickly, and with a mighty roar and a screech of rubber on cement, Cloud took off.

Cloud did not encounter any Pulsian enemies on his quick, frantic, drive to the Guardian Corps. HQ. Tires screeching as the bike came to a halt, leaving behind the faint fumes of burnt rubber, Cloud hastily kicked down the kickstand and bolted into the building. Jogging down the aisles of chaotic cubicles (as his soldiers were screaming orders or calmly trying to pacify horrified civilians), Cloud darted up the metal stairwell and burst through the doors next to his office. The ECC (Emergency Command Center) was a dark room, its walls littered with computer monitors and lined with a soldier at everyone.

"Status report!" he barked, placing a headset around his head.

"Sir, the Pulsian army is too strong, they're just plowing through our men!" shouted the sandy-haired Sergeant O'Bannon.

"How did they get into the city?" barked Cloud impatiently "How the hell did we not see this coming?" The sergeant could only respond with flustered gibber; Cloud sighed angrily "It doesn't matter; what's the status on Civilian Evac?"

"It's still our top priority" replied O'Bannon, confidence returning to his voice "Our guys are doing their damnedest to get them out, but those Pulsian mechs are slaughtering people left and right!"

"Who's out on the battlefield, commanders I mean?"

"Lieutenant Neville is has taken charge of the original squadron, and squads eighteen and four are being led by Sergeant's Farron and Douglas." replied O'Bannon.

"Sir, squad eleven is reporting sights of NORA operatives" reported a technician.

"NORA?" Cloud inquired sharply, turning to O'Bannon.

"Local monster hunting group, sir"

"Possible threat?"

"Maybe sir, they have good intentions but lack training"

"So yes!" thought Cloud darkly.

"Sir?" called another technician, "Incoming transmission from Lieutenant Neville"

"On screen"

"C-c-calling G-guardian Corps HQ, this is Lieutenant Neville of squad fourteen, do you read me? Come back" the message began garbled but quickly cleared.

"This is Captain Strife, we read you loud and clear Lieutenant!" said Cloud into his microphone;

"I'm sorry to report that I've got a little more bad news sir!" he replied somberly.

"Great" thought Cloud sarcastically "What is it?" he replied irritably; the response came slowly and painfully "Lieutenant Amodar is dead sir!"

The room erupted in horrified gasps, even Cloud's eyes widened in disbelief. He quickly flipped the communication unit to a private link; "How" he breathed.

"Headshot sir, looks like a sniper bullet, it's not pretty."

"Where?"

"Alleyway between Sunset and Sycamore, more than likely he was leading a flanking battalion and got hit; but there's too much fire between Them, us and NORA to tell who fired the shot."

Cloud sighed in frustration and disgust "What's your status?"

"Not good sir, Pulse is everywhere!"

Suddenly, Cloud could hear loud cheers. "What's happening?" he barked, switching back to open air.

"I-I don't believe it sir! The mechs are retreating, we won!" replied Neville, his tone unreadable; the entire ECC crew burst into applause and cheers. Cloud didn't join in, in fact he felt sick to his stomach; something was wrong! Raids didn't work like this: they went until the attackers got whatever it was they were looking for or until everyone was dead; they did not just waltz in, tickle their fancy and then leave!

"Neville are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked, speaking directly into his headsets microphone.

"Do you have that gut-wrenching feeling that this was 'too easy' as well sir?" replied Neville uneasily.

Before Cloud could answer, a shrill scream cut across the background of their conversation (Cloud recoiled as the high pitched noise surged across his ears).

"What the hell-Oh my God-OPEN FIRE!" was all he could hear in his headset.

"Lieutenant what's happening?" he roared over the thunderous gunfire. In a sickening twist, the line popped and cut to static; "Lieutenant Neville? _Lieutenant_!" Cloud called into the static but the line did not pick back up.

Cloud swore loudly, "Get him back! Get me _anyone_ out on the field!"

One of the techs punched something in on the computer before signaling that the line was open on all frequencies. "This is Guardian Corps Captain Cloud Strife, if there is anyone listening please comeback!" he shouted into the microphone; his ears heard nothing but static.

He repeated the message…still nothing. He spoke a third time and was met by a sudden 'click' and a garbled voice fought through the static;

"This is -Aurdian…-Orps…-rgeant-arron! Do you -opy?"

"Try to clear this line up!" he barked at a technician and then responded into the microphone "Comeback, I didn't copy; repeat: I _didn't_ copy!"

The voice repeated, greatly less garbled "This is Guardian Corps. Sergeant, Lightning Farron! Do you copy?"

"We're reading you Farron!" replied a relieved Cloud "We lost contact with Lieutenant Neville, what's going on down there?"

"It's a Warmech!" Lightning roared over a fresh hail of gunfire.

"What's your position?"

"We're doing our best to keep it within the beach district but we're losing men all over the place! What the-ARGH!"

"FARRON!" roared Cloud into the headset only this time Lightning didn't respond.

"Sir?" came a worried sounding Sergeant O'Bannon "We don't have the manpower to take out a Warmech; that thing's going to kill us all!"

Cloud's eyes hardened with determination and as he ripped the headset off of his head he breathed vehemently "Not if I have anything to say about it!"

"C-Captain, where are you going?" cried O'Bannon as Cloud moved for the door.

"I refuse to stand by and watch anymore of my soldiers die!"

"B-b-but you can't leave sir! The men need to know where you are and you need to remain here so you can make executive decisions!"

"Listen up Sergeant!" roared Cloud, causing O'Bannon and several technicians to flinch "I don't give a damn about protocol! Captain Matsuki trusted me to protect Bodhum and I don't intend to misplace his trust!"

Darting out of the ECC and down the mess of busy cubicles (ignoring the many confused looks as he jogged past), Cloud quickly mounted his bike and took off, leaving the stench of burnt rubber in his wake.

The Fenrir's engine roared loudly as Cloud weaved through the city; he could see the massive machine down by the pier (he could see Guardian Corps and NORA Operatives alike taking cover and firing at it). Observing the enemy, even from a distance, Cloud was unsure whether or not he would be able to stop it. However, it looked similar to the beast that he'd fought in Edge, so as tough as it looked it wouldn't be impossible to stop. Turning onto the planks with a dull '_clunk_' Cloud slammed on the brakes and came to a halt next to a MediCorps. tent.

"Captain?" said a disbelieving voice, as a Medic came charging towards him.

"You here to tell me I need to be back at Command?" asked Cloud dryly.

"No sir, I'm actually quite relieved to see you" replied the Medic. Cloud watched as a team brought a dark-skinned man with fiery red hair on a stretcher, blood on his teal clothes and a bloody bandage on his face.

"YOU!" he cried pointing at Cloud as they led him into the tent "YOU GOT TO SAVE THEM! UP THERE…THE END OF THE BOARDWALK…SNOW AND LIGHTNING, YOU GOT TO SAVE THEM!"

Cloud turned and looked down to the end of the pier where two figures were crouched in a tired and defeated manner as the Warmech's saw-like fingers descended rapidly on top of them.

Screeching his tires loudly, Cloud charged towards them; the images of Aerith and Zack's lifeless bodies flashed in his eyes as he witnessed the Warmech came closer and closer to Snow and Lightning's heads.

"No!" he thought gripping the handlebar of his bike tightly "I may not be the hero everyone claims that I am…but I refuse to let any more of my friends die!"

As if reading its riders mind, Fenrir snapped open its weapon compartments and Cloud took hold of the fused _Ascalon_ and _Avenger_ and launched it like a spinning missile. The blades collided with the branch-like arms, knocking them aside; slamming on the brakes and twisting his hips, Cloud turned sharply as he extended his arm, reaching out to Lightning. Feeling her grip as she grasped his wrist, Cloud pulled with all of his strength and pulled her onto the Fenrir.

"Sorry 'bout the wait" he said candidly.

"I'm glad you showed up at all!" Lightning shouted back over her gunfire. Retreating back to a safe distance, Fenrir slid to a halt before becoming still and its compartments popping open again.

"Cloud, what are you doing here?" asked Snow as a dark skinned woman dressed in purple and an oddly dressed man with blue hair dragged him away from danger.

"I couldn't sit back and stomach this anymore" replied Cloud placing _Vendetta_, _Sidewinder_ and _Merciless_ into his harness and drawing _Vigilante_ "So what do we know about the enemy?"

"It's armor is impenetrable and it hits like a truck" barked Lightning taking a fighting stance next to him (Snow joined them, his fists raised threateningly).

Cloud grinned "Nothing is impenetrable!"

The trio leapt forward; Cloud struck the Warmech's armor, slamming _Vigilante's_ saw-like edge against it with a resounding '_clang_'. Gripping _Merciless_ so that it sat reverse in his hand, Cloud struck the machine again with another reverberating ring. Flipping both swords upside-down, their edges caught a charging saw-claw from ripping his head off; swinging his right arm widely, he threw the Warmech's arm into a wide stagger. Twisting on his heel, Cloud drove the tip of _Merciless_ into the arm, though he felt the painful aftershocks as it bounced off uselessly. Pain exploded all across his body as he was struck by the flat face of the Warmech's claws; his stomach went topsy-turvy as he flew through the air before he smashed painfully onto the planks. Pushing himself up and shaking his head, Cloud watched momentarily as Lightning and Snow took over. He looked around desperately thinking of a plan, when his eyes came across something miraculous: lying amongst the rubble was _Ascalon_ and _Avenger_.

"Excellent!" thought Cloud, taking hold of the sword and adding _Vigilante_ to the fusion; replacing _Merciless_ in the harness and taking hold of _Vendetta_, Cloud leapt back into the fray.

Swinging his fused blades with all of his might, Cloud slammed the heavy sword down before launching himself upward. Quickly and instinctively fusing _Vendetta_ in a flash of ghostly blue flame, Cloud took hold of his sword with both hands before slamming down once again, this time smashing the mech into the wood. As he lunged backward, Lightning leapt forward to continue the assault; as her own combo finished with flying sparks of scraping metal against metal, Snow charged in landing a powerful punch and leaving behind a fist-shaped dent. Raising his sword above his head, Cloud charged past Snow before swinging it down like an executioners guillotine, then dragging it upward across the face in an X formation. As his blade ripped across the second time, his sword carved a deep gash into the armor; in his peripheral vision he could make out Lightning, battle ready and reaching an arm out for him. Acting on instinct, Cloud took hold of her wrist and launched her forward; her blade sunk into the gash that Cloud made and tore an even bigger opening in the metal face. The Warmech lashed out its furious arm sending Cloud and Lightning flying; the two collided with the pier angrily. Pushing back up, Cloud was in time to watch Snow charge in once again, leap onto the Warmech's face and toss something inside the hole before launching off and covering his head.

Suddenly, the Warmech erupted in a fiery blast from the inside, it shuddered before falling limp on the wood. Cheers erupted in the background but immediately, the auxiliary generators began humming.

"Unbelievable!" gasped a horrified Snow "It took a grenade blast from the inside and we haven't done a thing!"

"That's not true" replied Cloud simply, causing Lightning and Snow to stare "We've just figured out how hard we need to hit it!" He was glad that, at least, Snow laughed at his joke.

"Can either one of you still fight?"

"Sorry Cloud but my last attack broke my arm and a couple of bones in my hand" grunted Snow who cradled his arm with a painful expression.

"How about you Lightning?"

"I can still fight!" she said, though her voice faint; Cloud turned as a clatter of metal reached his ears: Lightning had collapsed, her skin was pale and she clutched her side which was bleeding profusely.

"Don't be stupid!" grunted Snow.

"He's right, you're not much use with your side sliced open" concurred Cloud who winced slightly. Examining his chest Cloud met the sharp pain of several broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder; he took a deep, it was going to hurt but it was nothing he couldn't handle. The Warmech's body jerked wildly.

"Listen you two" he said seriously "I think I can beat this thing so I need you guys to get everyone else away!"

"You got it" replied Snow, heaving Lightning up; as the two of them moved further away (he could here Snow shout "Get out of here! Give the Captain some room to work!")

Cloud quickly fused the twins to the sword; he heaved his sword into an attack position and began to concentrate. His large blade radiated a bluish flame and his own body glowing a golden blaze; as the resurrected Warmech whirred it's saw-like fingers, Cloud launched himself forward, thrust the tip of his sword up through the armor of the Warmech's underside and launched it skyward (along with five of his six blades). As the golden flame burned at its peak, an equally ferocious pain pulsed in his chest, causing Cloud to collapse grasping his heart; the pain lasted a moment but his focus was gone and the flame-like cloak dissipated. Panting hard and beads of sweat coursing down his body, Cloud's gaze shifted up and found his soldiers and allies watching him anxiously awaiting him to stand again. Suddenly coursing through his body, filling him with inspiration and strength, he remembered what he'd said in defense of his soldiers:

"_They are my soldiers and, until there isn't a breath left in my body, I will defend them like the people I am charged to protect_!" He could feel the strength of the golden aura immerse his body once more and moving faster than ever before, he leapt upward, replacing _Ascalon_ and gripping _Sidewinder_.

Charging forward, Cloud drove the dagger-like sword deep into the side of the Warmech's armor; replacing the _Sidewinder_ with the leathery-handle of the saw-toothed _Vendetta_, Cloud tore along the top of the mechanical frame. Swapping the first of the two back blades for its twin, Cloud ripped through the Warmech's opposite side with the fury of _Vigilante_. Quickly switching the sword, their master reached out and gripped the _Sidewinder's_ brother, the _Merciless_. Attacking in a graceful pirouette, Cloud shredded the machine's underbelly to the effect of his sword's name; and the dagger-like sword left its masters hand only to be replaced by the hollowed _Avenger_. In a similar fashion, attacked the underbelly again and a deep laceration crossed the previous (the sword that made it soon joined its brothers as its master abandoned it). Rising high above the Warmech, and looking down, Cloud saw the machine trapped in a star of gold energy (each of his blades as the tips) and the deep X cut across the underside acting as a target. Extracting _Ascalon_ from its sheath, and shining like a brilliant star, Cloud crashed down upon the Warmech like a golden meteor; slashing through the great X, he hacked through the power core.

At that moment, the golden aura withdrew into the Warmech, exploding in almighty force and Cloud and his six swords fell safely and victoriously back to the ground. The ruined machine dropping behind him into the water and there was a deafening roar as the damaged Warmech erupted into overdrive. Cloud pushed from the kneeling position he'd landed in to stand, turning to the people watching him; they stared with awe and impression. As he nodded calmly to all of them, a sharp cough escaped his throat and then another; shooting a hand over his mouth, he meet a very frightening feeling of warm, sticky wetness drenching his hand. Pulling his hand away, he found exactly what he feared: his glove soaked with blood. The sudden pain returned furiously in his chest.

_Impressive_ came the silkily evil voice _But it matters little_,_ the more you fight the more Mako is converted into poison_. Cloud sank to his knees, clutching his chest and blood oozing from his mouth. _You are mine Cloud_; his vision became foggy and the last words he heard before fading completely were: _You are the gateway_!

"Captain? CAPTAIN, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" came a distant voice.

A faint light began relighting his world, momentarily blinding him. Then his vision began returning, agonizingly slow, but soon found himself in a sitting position and staring into the concerned faces of Lightning, Snow and everyone else.

"Captain?" asked Lightning gently "Are you alright?"

Cloud blinked twice and took a deep breath before responding slowly "Yes," fighting past the awkward feeling that his head was numb. A green clad medical officer, fighting her way through the crowd, managed to the front and knelt down before him wielding a small emerald green bottle.

"Drink this," she barked tersely; Cloud put the bottle to his lips and drank a mouthful of potion (vaguely listening the medic's rant about how he could have killed himself). The strange but warming sensation that a liquefied fudge brownie was creeping down his throat and a very uncomfortable feeling in his chest and shoulder caused him to shudder as his injuries began to heal. He thanked the grumbling medic and got up onto his feet.

"What happened?"

Cloud froze, _how am I going to explain this one_, he quickly thought up as many believable excuses as possible before spewing out: "Sorry, I blacked out from the strain."

Many of the faces looked relieved, Lightning however looked incredulous.

"You blacked out"

"Yes"

"So can I assume that coughing up a handful of blood is normal after performing a technique both of your design and mastery?"

"Don't tell me you know what happens to _my_ body under that level of stress!" snapped Cloud, she was getting way too close.

"Captain-" Lightning paused and restarted "-_Cloud_, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes Lightning, I'm fine" Cloud lied calmly. He raised his arms, gripping the handrail tightly, and pulled himself back onto his feet (fighting past the numbness in his head and the sudden return of blood to his legs). Cloud moved over towards the ring of swords, placing four in the harness and the remaining two on his back; he could feel the anxious eyes watching him.

"Okay!" he barked loudly, turning back to face the large crowd "Let's get started on the cleanup."

**~o Lightning's POV o~**

Lightning stared up at the massive orb, drowning in cheers, as the rockets erupted into showers of sapphire and emerald. It hardly seemed possible that just two days ago they'd been under a Pulsian attack and now they were continuing life as if it hadn't happened; Lightning smiled at the resilience of her hometown. In another shrill boom, scarlet and gold came raining from the heavens; she stared at the different colored stars and her heart wished upon those fleeting little sparkles that that spirit would never die.

"You look dreamy Farron," came a voice from behind, causing Lightning to jump. She wheeled around to find the last person she expected to find on patrol duty.

"Captain Strife? What are you doing here?" she asked snapping off a crisp salute.

"Since the raid we've been a little low on manpower" he replied dryly "So I decided to help out on patrol." He turned his gaze to the fireworks and said with confusion "I don't understand, is this festival, is it some kind of custom in Cocoon?"

"Bodhum does this every year, no matter what, and local folklore talk about: if you wish on these fireworks it comes true" replied Lightning.

"I see, so were _you_ making a wish?"

"What?" asked Lightning, caught off guard by the question "Oh, er…"

Cloud chuckled "And you call yourself a soldier."

The two of them laughed (Lightning liked hearing her Captain laugh, she though it humanized him). "I really don't think that guard duty is my calling, sir" she said.

"Well, lucky for you, your shift just ended" said Cloud dismissively "Pack it up and go home."

"But—sir?" Lightning began.

"No 'buts' Farron" he said in a gentle tone that greatly matched Captain Matsuki "I need all of my men in top condition."

Lightning nodded; quickly casting a sad look at the fireworks that many of her colleagues (namely her friend and mentor) would never see again.

"Something on your mind?"

"Just thinking about Lieutenant Amodar, sir"

Lightning noticed Cloud advert his gaze, and heard him mutter "I swear I'll find out who did this to the Lieutenant"

"Why sir?" inquired Lightning "The Lieutenant was killed in the attack, what purpose would it serve to find his killer there? It would be like finding a needle in a haystack."

"That's just it!" said Cloud turning to her, his gaze dead serious "The autopsy reports just came back: Lieutenant Amodar wasn't killed during the raid."

"What!"

"The kill was definitely from a gunshot wound, it would have been easy to cover it up from the raid, but the Medical Examiner showed me some post-mortem bruising on his arms and back. Amodar was moved, after being shot through the head by a sniper bullet, to make it look like he was killed in the attack" said Cloud solemnly.

"My God," breathed Lightning horrified "But why would someone want to kill the Lieutenant? He was ambitious but he'd never set a toe out of line."

"It's my fault" said Cloud shifting his sad gaze downward. Lightning stared at him confused, upon seeing this, Cloud looked around cautiously to make sure that no one was listening and spoke, lowering his voice to where Lightning had to strain to hear him "I had assigned Amodar to spy on PSICOM."

"WHY!" said Lightning unnecessarily loud causing Cloud to 'shush' her.

"Don't be naïve Farron, _PSICOM is watching us_! Whether it's the whole regiment or just me, I'm not sure; but I _am_ sure of is that Amodar found something. And whatever it was that he found, he was killed for it."

Lightning stared horrified, disbelieving of what she was hearing; she noticed Cloud giving a duo of PSICOM grunts incredibly filthy looks.

"No" she gasped "You don't think PSICOM was involved, _do you_?"

"I don't know. But what's even more frustrating is that I can't confront them about it!" He turned back to Lightning and whispered "I'm positive that PSICOM is hiding something from us."

"What makes you say that?" asked Lightning, keeping her voice low.

"They found something in the vestige nearby and they don't want the Guardian Corps stepping on their toes."

"Something Pulse-related?" she inquired a little deeper; she exchanged a look with Cloud that plainly said: _Your guess is as good as mine_.

Cloud coughed, quickly calling for a change in subject; "So, er…you're taking tomorrow off?" he asked politely.

"Sir, for my birthday, sir; my sister, she insisted on it" she replied following his rapid change of topic (it really wasn't smart to be discussing such things in public).

"Really?" asked Cloud intrigued, "How old?"

Initially surprised by her Captains interest, Lightning answered without pause "Twenty-one."

"Twenty-one, huh?" he said in a reminiscent tone "Maybe it's a good time to send off that letter of recommendation for officer training." He smiled at her surprise "Amodar has been on me to get that thing mailed; I've read your record, and you're past due for a promotion Farron.

"I really hate to lose one of my best and most trusted soldiers, but you deserve it."

"Thank you, sir!" said Lightning bending into a respective bow. Suddenly, she remembered their earlier conversation, "But sir, what about-"

"-You let _me_ worry about PSICOM" he said gently "_You_ worry about your future."

"Yes sir."

"Happy Birthday Farron" he said sincerely and then Cloud disappeared into the crowd, resuming his patrol. She watched him for a moment and smiled before turning on her heel and making her way home.

**[The Next Day]**

"Happy Birthday sis!" bellowed Snow as he and Serah arrived for Lightning's birthday luncheon.

"I'm not your sister Snow! How many times do I have to tell you?" Lightning retorted acerbically.

"Then how about one from me?" said Serah, brandishing a small white box with a large, flamboyant ribbon and pulling her sister into a welcoming hug.

"Come in, _both of you_" Lightning added grudgingly to Snow; she led the duo into her kitchen, eyeing the subtle changes to each of them: the two of them now sported a circular pendant sitting atop a spiral pillar, and anger flared in Lightning's stomach as she spotted a thick white bandage wrapped around Serah's upper left arm. However, what was most noticeable was the distracted look on her sister's face.

"Okay" Lightning sighed tersely "What's going on Serah?"

Serah looked at Snow (who grinned in support) and then turned back to Lightning, taking a deep breath. "It's like this Lightning: I've got good news and bad news."

"_Oh god_," thought Lightning exasperatedly "_Nothing good can come from a sentence that starts like that_."

"The good news is that Snow proposed last night and I said yes. The bad news-" she took a deep breath and continued bravely "-I went into the Vestige the other day and when I came out I was a Pulse l'Cie."

Lightning stared disbelievingly and feeling curiously numb; "You became a l'Cie, so now you're going to marry this idiot?!" shot Lightning, her temper flaring and causing her sister to recoil, "And you think I'm going to buy that? Full points for originality."

Snow put a secure arm around Serah as she hung her head like a despondent child.

"Don't forget" said Lightning warningly, rising to her feet, "If you really are a l'Cie, then it's my job to deal with you."

Serah stared at her, half shocked and half hurt, "Sis…"

"This is ridiculous, worst birthday ever!" spat Lightning disgustedly. Suddenly, Serah took off running, exiting the house with several, tearful, gasps.

"Wait! Serah!" called Snow who then, after a moment, turned his attention to Lighting "Why won't you believe her?" he shot heatedly, only for Lightning to unleash pent up aggression.

"_You kidding me_? She becomes a l'Cie and then you pop the question?" she raged incredulously.

"Lightning, stop it" roared Snow, slamming a fist onto the table but Lightning slammed both of her fists onto the surface, causing the whole table to shudder.

"NO, _you_ stop it! Get out of my house!" she bellowed coldly; Snow stared disbelievingly.

"You're shutting her out, she's your sister!" he said pleadingly.

Lightning turned her back to him, crossing her arms firmly, and they stood in heated silence before Snow sighed in defeat.

"Fine" he said coolly "I'll do it: I'll protect her!"

Lightning listened to the rhythmic beat of his footfalls before hearing the door slam shut; she growled in frustration and anger.

"_How could Serah do this_?" she thought angrily as she opened up a cabinet, pulled out some containers and began roughly shoving food into them. "_Why would she say those things_?" Practically throwing the food into the refrigerator, Lightning scooped up the dirty dishes and loaded them into the sink. "_She was supposed to go to college_, _not throw her life away for that idiot_! _Then_, _on my birthday no less_, _she comes claiming that she's engaged and a l'Cie_?"

Lightning thought these things bitterly as she drowned the plates and glasses in liquid soap and steaming water; she expected this kind of stupid behavior from Snow but not from Serah! As she scrubbed the dishes, and after a few deep breaths, she could feel the therapy of the hot water transform her anger and frustration into something much worse: sadness and hurt (her thoughts returned to her sisters words and then a plot to make Snow pay for talking her into saying such cruel words).

Rubbing the water off of her hands with a towel and flicking on her television, Lightning's gaze was suddenly caught by the brightly colored ribbon, still sitting atop a box that waited to be opened. Moving over to the table, she crossed her arms stubbornly; she didn't want to open it, not after that little scene. She tried to ignore the nagging curiosity that burned at her mind and soon enough, found herself pulling the ribbon apart and pulling off the cardboard box top. Inside was a knife, its handle bound by tight black leather and its pommel and circular hand-guard a metallic bronze. Pulling back on the little blade that was showing, Lightning stared, rather impressed by its ornate design; the curved blade was eight-maybe-nine inches long, silver, one side edged and the other serrated. "How practical" she sighed sadly before folding the blade and sticking it into her pouch; her mind lingered on Snow's words: "_You're shutting her out_, _she's your sister_!"

Lightning's gaze shifted downward, she didn't want to admit it but he _was_ right.

Suddenly the large television screen beeped, quickly gaining her attention.

_We interrupt this program to bring you this urgent Sanctum bulletin_. _Late last night_, _officials confirmed the presence of a Pulse Fal'Cie inside the city of Bodhum_. _Acting with Fal'Cie Eden's approval_, _officials have declared a state of emergency_; _the entire district will be quarantined in response to this crisis_…

Lightning stared in disbelief and horror, a Pulse Fal'Cie, here? It seemed as unlikely as…she gasped as the startling realization crashed over her: Serah had been telling her the truth.

_This is a Sanctum bullet_-_Wait_, _it appears that we have more on the incident in Bodhum_: (Lightning snapped her eyes back to the screen, holding her breath anxiously as the reporter held a hand to the microphone in her ear) _It appears that PSICOM officials have taken Guardian Corps Captain_ _Cloud Strife_, _the leader of the Bodhum regiment_, _into custody for further inquiry of the event_.

"WHAT?!" the incredulous word slipped from her mouth while her eyebrows narrowed at the reporter's sugarcoated words: more than likely he was going to be hauled off to the stockade for interrogation before inevitable execution. The reporter listened to her earphone for a moment before speaking again

_It seems that we are receiving video feed of this_: the newsroom immediately switched over to a robotic camera hovering high above the motel where Cloud was living. The whole place was overrun by PSICOM soldiers and encircled by a large group of armed men, standing tall with his hands behind his head and looking forward, undistracted, was the Captain. As Lightning watched in horror as the high-security aircraft took off for the stockade with her Captain a sudden boom at her door caused her to turn so quickly that she nearly cricked her neck. She moved over to her door, heart racing.

"Serah came back," she thought breathlessly as she pulled open the door; but it was not her sister: standing at her door was a group of six soldiers (three PSICOM Wardens and three Guardian Corps soldiers).

"Sergeant Farron?" said a Warden sharply "Where is the l'Cie?"

"How the hell should I know?" snapped Lightning truthfully. The Warden growled furiously, but was silenced by the speaking up of one of the yellow armored GC's.

"If she says she doesn't know, then she doesn't know!" Lightning stared at the Guardian Corps soldier, recognizing her voice anywhere

"Private Benoit?"

The soldier raised the visor on her helmet, revealing the toe-headed woman "Hello Sergeant" she said rather shyly.

Lightning stared at her disbelievingly; Benoit turned to her fellow GC's who raised their own visors to reveal the faces of Private McGregor and Sergeant O'Bannon.

"What the hell are you three doing?" barked Lightning furiously.

"We're sorry Farron" said O'Bannon somberly, "But with the Captain gone, the Regiment was temporarily taken over by Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat; our orders are to bring in the fugitive l'Cie and we tracked a power spike to your sister."

"So you're going to after her whether I help or not?"

"Sorry Farron" repeated O'Bannon replacing his visor "But we're just following orders."

Lightning watched, with her eyebrows furrowed, as they group moved away; turning quickly and strapping Blazefire's holster onto her hip, Lightning bolted from the house. It was her own stupid pride that had blinded her from her sister's outreach and her arrogance turned her away; now Serah was in danger and it was her duty as a sister to protect her.

The town was in utter chaos! Terrified civilians were running in panic and PSICOM and Guardian Corps barking orders at each other and firing off random shots into the air. Lightning pushed past all of the confusion and made towards the beach: Snow's house was on the beach and that would, more-than-likely, be where his idiotic brain would take her sister. Nervous beads of sweat ran down Lightning's back as she ran; skidding to a halt, Lightning stared in horror as the sight of Snow's place being overrun by the black of PSICOM and yellow-and-white of the GC. Judging by their lack of anyone in custody, Lightning breathed a sigh of relief that Snow at least had some brain in his head. Charging down the boardwalk and averting her eyes out over the sea, she slid to a full stop as something caught her eye: rocketing down from the vestige, trailing black smoke and screams, a hovercraft crashed onto the sand; as the dust from the crash settled, Lightning looked and sure enough, sprawled out on the sand was Snow.

Launching herself over the wooden railing, Lightning raced over to him and flipped his body over. She slapped his face hard.

"Wake up Idiot!" she roared but Snow remained unconscious; pulling a bottle of potion from her pouch and uncorking it with her thumb, Lightning pressed it to his lips and poured. Suddenly his eyes flew open and he coughed and spluttered as Lightning removed the potion.

"Hmm," he said smacking his lips "Jam doughnut, not bad!"

Lightning slapped him again, "Serah, idiot! Where is she?"

Snow's eyes widened with comprehension and horror; "Serah!" he roared moving towards the water. Lightning's gaze shifted from him to the Vestige, horrible realization crashing over her:

"_SHE'S IN THE VESTIGE_?!" she roared angrily.

"I-it just reached out and grabbed her!" sputtered Snow; he was panting frantically before he finally regained control of himself. "Look Lightning, this is what happened because you didn't believe her!" he said hotly "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go rescue her."

Snow took off running; Lightning watched him angrily before returning her gaze to the Vestige, watching as the PSICOM battle-cruiser _Palamecia_ lifted the gargantuan structure and took it away.

"More than likely to the Purge station at the Hanging Edge" Lightning thought, her soldier training kicking in; she knew what had to do and a plan began formulating in her mind as she set off.

**[Later That Day…Bodhum Train Station]**

"Attention Purge deportees: Follow instructions and stay in your lines! Personal belongings will be returned upon arrival; Do not leave your lines, this is for your own safety!" barked a PSICOM officer to a crowd of restless civilians.

Lightning moved past them as if she were back in the Bodhum Regiment HQ. Occasionally, she would glance over and mentally note how frightened each of them looked (especially with the random runners who were gunned down). However, she trained her attention to the PSICOM officer shouting orders; when he noticed her arrival, he looked her over behind his uniforms dark mask but his eyes quickly fell upon to the two golden stripes etched into her shoulder pauldron.

"What's the 'GC' doing here?" He asked sharply "This op's under PSICOM direction."

"So direct me," said Lightning impatiently "Let me on, I want to be Purged."

She couldn't see his face behind the mask, but she could easily tell that he was stunned. "Only civs get Purged" he whispered leaning in close so only she could hear "Sanctum staff and soldiers are exempt."

Lightning quickly whipped out her _Blazefire Saber_ and held it out for him to take, saying darkly "Then I quit!"

He took the weapon gruffly and barked disconcertedly "Line up!"

Lightning watched as the soldier walked off with her weapon, but did as she was told; "_Don't worry_, _you won't be parted for long_!" she thought to herself, pacifyingly.

"Excuse me? Hey lady!" came a whisper from behind. Lightning turned partially to find a dark skinned man in a green bush pilot's jacket. "What gives?" he asked in whisper so low she could barely hear it but answered simply.

"I volunteered."

"Really?" he said disbelievingly "You don't look ready to go quiet into that good night-"

"-You want quiet" Lightning shot back irritably "You better take the next train!" Becoming silent, Lightning began running her plan through her mind again as she took the first steps onto the train.

**(UPDATED) I'm not sure but I think I did a pretty lousy job with the POV in this chapter…if you guys notice anything, please let me know.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Purge at Hanging Edge

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS or ANY USED DIALOGUE…THAT WOULD BE Square-Enix.**

The train moved swiftly and silently, like a great snake of doom; Lightning sat in her seat, clad in the hooded Purge Robe they'd forced on her, patiently awaiting her moment to strike. Matsuki was gone, Amodar was gone, even Cloud was gone; now it was just her and all of her training in order to survive. Her eyes burned with anger and determination: she was after the Fal'Cie Anima, nothing else mattered and she would take down anything that got in her way. The doors to the connecting car slid open the hiss of releasing compressed air and the PSICOM soldier, wielding his standard machine gun, marched into the car like a gestapo. Lightning eyed him as he pointed his gun in the faces of the frightful passengers, her warrior's instinct itching to get her gunblade back and bury bullets into his body.

The man to her right turned to her and whispered "Are you serious?"

"Be quiet!" Lightning hissed, keeping her mind clear and focused.

The man glanced over at the guard and then whispered back "Best of luck."

Lightning grunted a soft '_humph_'; luck had nothing to do with skill. The train jerked with a sudden, stomach wrenching lurch, jerking the passengers like ragdolls and causing the guard to stumble; Lightning's eyes narrowed: this was her chance to strike. On her feet and making a mad dash towards the stupefied guard, Lightning flew into the air grabbing the guard by his helmet and twisted violently. As the guard fell to the ground (and Lightning returned to it), she quickly smashed the heel of her boot onto the mechanism that controlled the lock of the cuffs bind all prisoners hands (her own falling away freely).

The door slid open with another airy hiss and two more PSICOM soldiers charged in, one of them roared "FREEZE" although the rhetorical statement was drowned in a hail of gunfire. Lightning, swiftly slipping out of her Purge Robe, used it's distraction to outmaneuver the lowly grunts, get underneath them and quickly take the first out with a powerful kick to the neck, and filled her left hand with pain as she knocked away the second guard's gun and plowed her fist into his face, dropping like a stone.

Throwing herself against the corner, momentarily catching her breath, Lightning dove back into chaos as she charged into the next car, squeezing the trigger of the stolen machine gun and letting loose a barrage of bullets. The soldiers dived behind cover, evading her shots, before one of them charged; twisting into a masterful spin, Lightning sharply planted her boot into the throat of the charging soldier. As her mighty kick brought the soldier crashing back down, Lightning opened fire on the unsuspecting second; snapping her fingers and activating her manadrive, Lightning pushed off, her Grav-Con unit making her lighter than air. Slamming her full weight onto the chest of a soldier (attempting to sneak up on her) and taking hold of his unused gun, Lightning pushed off again, spinning in midair, shooting three-hundred sixty degrees and killing all soldiers that approached.

Landing like a cat and dropping the exhausted gun, the low rumble of numerous footsteps, too unorganized to be more soldiers, met Lightning's ears. As she found the soldier she'd surrendered her weapon to, Lightning turned slightly catching the black-man in the green bush pilot running up to her with a stolen machine gun in his hand and two rocket launchers crisscrossing his back and followed by civilians wielding similar weapons.

"They all want to fight!" he reported with much surprise in his voice.

"Good for them" said Lightning uncaring, holding _Blazefire_ across her chest. Running over and crashing her shoulder into one of the emergency exits, breaking it open with a loud thud, Lightning got full blast of the purge location: the abandoned city of Hanging Edge. Its buildings emitted an eerie green light that shrouded the whole place in an envelope of green mist; far below, beyond the maze of highroads and bridges, Lightning could clearly make out a massive firefight going on between PSICOM and some unknown faction. Snapping her attention forward, Lightning found several oncoming PSICOM air-mechs coming in fast dead ahead.

"Give me that," barked Lightning, placing _Blazefire _into its holster and seizing one of the two bazookas; giving the automatic targeting module a moment to lock onto one of the air-mechs, Lightning squeezed the trigger, the recoil pushing her back slightly but as complimented by a loud '_boom_' and a massive fireball as the rocket nailed its target. Dropping the empty gun and snatching the other one, Lightning scanned the sky for the remaining machines only to be forced back inside as she dodged a hail of gunfire from her six. Hanging back outside the door, Lightning didn't wait for the targeting module to do its job, pointed the rocket at the closest target and squeezed the trigger. The rocket sailed passed the air-mechs and collided brutally with an archway across the tracks; there was the screech of metal as one of the mechs let loose a volley of blue lightning that mercilessly attacked the train, causing several cars to break away. Lightning gripped the railing tightly to keep herself upright only to be violently thrown to the ground seconds later as a sudden weight crashed into the train, bringing it to a screeching halt.

Returning to her feet and drawing her weapon, Lightning ducked as something that looked like a giant mechanical scorpion tail swooped down and slashed open the roof.

"Run!" screamed the bush pilot; Lightning charged forward, and the last thing she heard before pushing out through the roof, was him shouting "_I meant away_!"

Flying out onto the roof, transforming _Blazefire_ into blade-mode with a flick of her wrist, Lightning trained her sword at the source of train-stopping weight: another Warmech, whitewashed in color and, thankfully, minimal armaments. It's thrusters ignited in a flash of blue light, launching it skyward, its tail erect and spearing into the train for a more stable fighting position.

"Hey, hey…let's be rational now!" wailed the bush pilot as he inched away from the machine. Its chainsaw fingers roaring at an earsplitting volume, the Warmech thrust at them but missed horribly as Lightning professionally dodged the attack.

"They're pulling out the big guns," gasped the bush pilot "What do we do now?"

"Watch and learn!" ordered Lightning, taking her fighting stance.

Evading the deadly claws with precision ease, Lightning buried four inches of the tip of her sword into the mechanical arm; launching off the ground and swinging with all of her strength, the sword buried deep into the opposite arm and severing it completely. Not letting her guard drop and pushing with her legs, Lightning rocketed skyward and narrowing missing the Warmech's scorpion tail from impaling her leg. Twisting into her next attack, Lightning attacked with an unfriendly double slash, cutting the Warmech's frontal armor with a massive X.

"Now!" she roared as she pushed off of the machine; pulling out his pistols, the bush pilot fired a hail of bullets into the open armor. Suddenly the damaged Warmech launched itself backward and, grabbing the train with its saw-like claws, began to viciously shake the cars.

"FALL BACK!" ordered Lightning, charging backward followed closely by the bush pilot.

"NOT SO TOUGH NOW, HUH!" roared the bush pilot as he ran. Lightning could hear hydraulics on the Warmech's boosters kicking in and the car beneath her feet began to shudder horribly as she ran (the bush pilot quickly called over his shoulder "Hey, that wasn't a challenge!"). A powerful convulsion of the car sent Lightning to her knees; pushing off and catching hold of the railing, she surfed gracefully onto the disconnected car below. Turning back, she watched as the car she was on not two seconds ago was quickly becoming vertical and the bush pilot still aboard it.

"JUMP!" shouted Lightning; he did, soaring through the air, limbs flailing and screaming, before landing awkwardly next to Lightning. As he landed, Lightning noticed something in the corner of her eye: landing in Sazh hair was a tiny golden Chocobo chick. She shook herself, _not the time_ she thought harshly.

"Heads up!" she warned, raising her sword as the Warmech came crashing down before them.

"This thing…won't give up!" he panted wearily getting back on his feet. Suddenly, the facial armor on the Warmech split open and bluish electricity crackled as it readied to fire its deadliest weapon.

"GET DOWN!" Lightning roared; as the two collided heavily with the ground, the heat of the laser keeping them down. Suddenly the heat began lifting as the laser began to fade; instincts screaming that this was the moment to strike, Lightning gripped the handle of her gunblade and launched upward, dragging several inches of steel across the metal frame.

There came a deafening roar from the Warmech as several internal components erupted in flame and, without another movement, it slid off the side of the train and fell over into the chasm below.

"Whew!" sighed the bush pilot before shouting victoriously "We did it!"

Switching _Blazefire_ back to its gun mode, Lightning swiftly placing it back in its holster.

"Hey," he said "Aren't you supposed to protect civilians, _soldier_?" his voice taking a hard and sarcastic tone. "You're Sanctum, aren't you? Why do you want to stop the purge?"

"I _was_ a soldier" replied Lightning coldly before leaping off the ruined train car and began moving down the road in a dead run. Pushing past dead soldiers, civilian and PSICOM, and launching over debris, Lightning trained her soldier senses forward (though she was fully aware that the bush pilot was still trailing after her). Catching sight of a PSICOM soldier up ahead, Lightning quickly ducked behind a large fragment of road debris, thrusting a finger upon her lips to keep the pilot quiet as he rejoined her.

"Not wanting to get Purged, I get, but taking on trained soldiers?" he questioned in a hiss.

"Better to die than get sent to Pulse! It's hell without the brimstone" said Lightning briskly.

"Well, hell's not sounding too bad 'cause this place ain't exactly paradise" he replied sarcastically; Lightning ignored him, studying their next targets: a lone PSICOM warden and two four legged beasts.

"Domesticated peacekeepers, nothing to worry about,"

"Maybe for a soldier girl but I'm—HEY, HEY!" he hissed as she drew her weapon;

"Aim for their heads," and then added threateningly "Don't miss!"

Flicking her wrist and _Blazefire's_ blade mode shot out with a snap; Lightning moved forward, wrapped her arm around the warden's head and placed the edge of her sword roughly against his throat, then slid it roughly across. Spinning into a defensive stance, Lightning was please to find that it wasn't necessary as both of the beasts lay dead on the ground and a bloody hole in each of their heads. Placing _Blazefire_ back into its holster, Lightning nodded appreciatively at the bush pilot, who twirled his guns impressively before holstering them.

Suddenly there was an earsplitting boom and the road before them, which extended into a monstrous bridge, gave way in a brilliant flash of fire; the duo watched in horror as people, both PSICOM and civilian plummeted into the chasm. Turning her focus back, Lightning began concentrating on the bigger matter at hand: they no longer had a way forward.

"Do we turn back?"

"There's no time!"

"What do you suggest we do?"

"QUIET!" she snapped impatiently, giving herself a moment to think. She moved over to the edge of the bridge, a significant length had been taken off but it wasn't anything her trusty Grav-Con Unit couldn't handle. Snapping her fingers, Lightning could feel the small device kick in, coursing across her skin and making her weightless.

"Hey, _hey_, HEY!" shouted the bush pilot, seizing Lightning around the waist as she readied to make the jump, wailing nonsensically "Wait! NO, DON'T LEAVE ME!"

"LET GO!" roared Lightning trying to push away from him but only making his vice-grip tighter.

"HELL NO YOU'RE MY ONLY WAY OUT OF HERE!" he howled; gritting her teeth angrily, Lightning plowed her knee directly into his stomach and then landing a perfect backhand punch to his cheek. He fell to the ground, stunned, but Lightning also returned to the damaged bridge; she snapped her fingers, the manadrive sparked and then died, she snapped again, but again the manadrive sparked but did nothing.

"_Damn it_!" Lightning thought disgustedly "_He overloaded the core processor_, _I'll be lucky if this ever works again_!"

Now what, Farron? What's the next move? Lightning thought hard, but without her Grav-Con Unit, she was in a real fix!

"Hey, _that_ might get us across!" said the winded pilot; Lightning turned eagerly and found an approaching steel gondola ("Maybe he isn't as useless as I think he is," Lightning thought coolly, though the thought of her damaged manadrive quickly made her angry again).

The two of them moved quickly, tracking the gondola back across the highroad. "Over there!" screeched the pilot, pointing towards a lift unit that would put them right on top of the gondola. Quickly clambering into the lift, Lightning let the pilot work the controls and soon the two had launched themselves onto the metal surface and into the hands of three PSICOM wardens and a heavily armed (and masked) Marauder.

"Deportees are we? Weapons down!" he barked and drew his weapon, a spiked staff that elongated with the flick of a switch "I'd hate for this to turn ugly."

"Turn ugly?" inquired the pilot as Lightning drew her sword

"He wants to kill us without a fight!" Lightning said flatly (the pilot sighed, drawing his pistols again).

"TIME'S UP!" he roared, kicking on the thrusters in his boots and rocketing forward; Lightning grinned devilishly, the massive Marauder had greater size than her but, thankfully, he wasn't too smart. Taking a single step forward and swinging with all of her strength, Lightning buried several inches of steel deep into the Marauder's shoulder, completely severing the arm, and with a quick twist jabbed the tip of her sword into his boot. Howling in pain and out of control, the Marauder rocketed off of the gondola, where his remaining thruster died and he fell into the merciless black hole below.

The three wardens opened fire; switching _Blazefire_ into gun mode, Lightning and the bush pilot took and aim and squeezed the triggers. All three dropped dead from a clean shot to the chest.

Moving forward to the gondola's control unit, the pilot suddenly asked "So soldier," (as he was so used to calling her) "What's your angle?"

Lightning didn't answer; "What? Classified military info, hmm?" he persisted as he tinkered with the controls "What's the matter…you quit didn't you?! What, you think I'm gonna go around-"

"-Pulse Fal'Cie" Lightning interjected slowly, finally tired of his incessant questioning. Sensing his confusion, she turned to him, her eyes blazing with determination "My angle: _I'm after the Fal'Cie_!" Lightning seized control of the gondola's control unit and activated the thrusters for the newly programmed location, immediately questioning the wisdom of telling him her plan. "_Why not_," she thought darkly "_It's crazy and suicidal_" the thought spilled almost vengefully out of her mind and then turned and asked sardonically "Still happy that you tagged along?"

Turning her back to him, Lightning planted herself against a support beam; she watched, all the while, the massive firefight still going on below. The whole thing was appalling: the military that was supposed to be helping these people, _defending them_, were executing them mercilessly.

"It's an out-and-out massacre," breathed the horrorstruck pilot "Those people won't even live long enough to die on Pulse!"

"That was the idea," spat Lightning disgustedly

"What?!"

"Sanctum logic," said Lightning as though it were common knowledge "They conjured up the Purge to eliminate a threat. I mean, why carry the threat all the way to Pulse, why not just stamp it out here?" she paused to stop herself from shaking with rage and disgust "Execution masquerading as exile, that all the Purge ever was!"

The pilot chuckled mirthlessly "Relocation to Pulse; how does the government get away with pulling crap like that?! And you," he rounded on Lightning "You knew this was gonna happen?"

Light shook her head defiantly "The Purge was PSICOM: _private_ Sanctum use, not the Guardian Corps!"

"PSICOM…Guardian Corps…soldiers are soldiers, aren't they?" he spat pointing to one of the deceased wardens. "Pulse Fal'Cie and their l'Cie are enemies of the state! You tell a soldier to kill an enemy and you really think it's going to matter what uniform he's wearing?"

"It might have mattered to that one" said Lightning quietly "He couldn't shoot and got himself shot instead."

"How about you, hmm? Orders say shoot, you pull the trigger?" he asked sharply; Lightning didn't respond. He threw his arms up in defeat "Fine, forget that I asked!"

"Wait, what-" inquired Lightning as a loud whirring from behind warned her of the arrival of danger. Landing on the gondola with a resounding clang, a Myrmidon-type battle mech dropped onto the deck. Drawing their weapons as if on cue, the duo launched into action; dodging out of the way of its drill-like spear, Lightning struck the main body, tearing open the shielding and then ducked out of the way as pilot buried four bullets into the open lacerations. Batting out its shield arm, the battle mech swatted the pilot down as though he were a fly and revolving around nailed Lightning in the stomach with its spinning spear. Breath beaten from her lungs and a rapidly blackening bruise growing on her midriff, Lightning skidded across the deck and _Blazefire_ slipped from her grasp. Flipping onto her stomach, a sharp pain spiked through her; she gingerly touching her torso and thought "Crap". The mech had broken a couple of her ribs.

Then the mech fixed its gaze upon her; Light stared helplessly, desperately looking for her _Blazefire Saber_. She found it lying immediately between her and the giant robot; she grit her teeth painfully, this was going to have to be quick. Bolting to her feet, Light made like crazy for her weapon; boosters and hydraulics kicking in before her, she zoned it out focusing all concentration on her weapon. Holding out her arm, she victoriously gripped the handle of her weapon. Without missing a beat, Lightning launched herself over the Myrmidon and slashed blindly before dropping back to the ground, painfully clutching her chest. Two dull thuds later, Lightning turned to find the rapidly deactivating robot and its head rolling away.

"You alright?" asked the pilot, running up to her; Lightning held up a hand to calm him, she rummaged in her bag and pulled out an emerald bottle of potion. Pushing up the stopper with her thumb, Lightning downed half of it in a single gulp; the sensation that a warm, liquefied, chocolate chip cookie gushed down her throat, warming her body although she had the uncomfortable feeling in her chest as her ribs healed.

"Are you hurt?" Lightning asked tersely.

"What? Oh, yeah a little but I'll be alright" he replied but Light shoved the bottle at him.

"Drink, it will help."

The pilot took the bottle, looked it over curiously, before putting it to his lips and draining the contents. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Hmm," he moaned, smacking his lips "Hot apple strudel…hey that's some quality stuff!"

Lightning ignored him as she returned to her feet and replaced _Blazefire_ in its holster; an alarm began blaring at a resounding level.

"What's that?"

_Attention Purge deportees_…_Attention Purge deportees_; _put down your weapons and surrender immediately_. _Your removal is the will of the people of Cocoon_; _should you attempt to flee_, _the Sanctum will employ every resource necessary to bring you to justice_. _This land is no longer your home_! _Cease hostilities and surrender at once_!

The message blared across the city with a reverberating echo; but as it did several aerial craft descended from the sky, carrying the massive vestige that Lightning was forced to look at back in Bodhum.

"Just what you were looking for, the Pulse Fal'Cie" said the bush pilot, staring quite awestruck at it; the sight of it angered Lightning.

"Yeah, in there" she said keeping her voice steady. She knelt down, examining their position, distance from the vestige and height. As the pilot began wondering about the difference between Fal'Cie of Pulse and the Sanctum, Lightning checked her damaged manadrive and hoped she could get one final burst of power from it for one more jump. Taking a couple steps back, Lightning ordered "Time to jump!" taking off at a run, she launched herself over the edge and, like a missile, began her rapid descent.

The wind rushing past her, her cape whipping around madly and sending a chill down her spine, Lightning snapped her fingers and hoped for the best. The electric effect coursed across her skin and Lightning flipped herself right-side up and landed gracefully with a soft, muffled crash. The manadrive whined before fizzling out permanently; turning her gaze upward, Lightning groaned in annoyance as the pilot lowered himself, only to drop unceremoniously and screaming like a frightened three year old. Knowing that her faithful manadrive would last long enough to safely catch him, she took off running for the vestige.

Invading the vestige wasn't a problem; however, navigating the iron labyrinth was turning out to be more difficult than originally planned. It was much bigger on the inside as Lightning quickly found out! After several wrong turns and much backtracking, she and pilot had come to a rest at a door that was impossible to open. Lightning spent the better part of ten minutes uselessly slashing at the door.

"Still won't budge?" chimed the pilot sarcastically "I think the door is winning!"

Lightning stopped mid-swing "Why didn't I listen?" the words spilled out faster than she could stop them "This is my fault."

"Beg your pardon?" asked the pilot, thoroughly confused.

"Cover your ears," Lightning ordered.

"Huh? Oh, blast charge? Hold on, hold on!" he took off in the other direction, before crashing to his knees and curled into a little ball "Alright go for it! Make it happen" he shouted idiotically placing his fingers in his ears.

Lightning rolled her eyes and turned back to the door; placing her hand gently upon it, she whispered gently "I'm so sorry, please let me in. Please?"

The last please came out more as a beg but she meant every word; the building rumbled with the whirr of spinning gizmos, and a bright flash later, the metal doors slid apart.

"What the—hey?" asked the pilot as he came out of his ludicrous ball "What did- How'd you open it?" Lightning ignored him completely and entered into the gargantuan room (she heard him mutter sarcastically "After you!").

Moving as silently as shadows, Light and pilot snuck past several surviving mecha and more domesticated peacekeepers. "If those things are still around, might be some soldiers trapped here too" whispered the pilot "Except they'd be l'Cie by now; not even human anymore, just Pulse l'Cie: enemies of Cocoon. Can't so them any mercy."

Lightning balled her fist, resisting the tempting urge to shove it up the bush pilot's nose. He didn't know what he was talking about, "_Just keep your eyes forward and keep moving_" she ordered herself.

"What's gotten into you soldier? I thought you came for a fight."

Lightning stopped and took a deep breath and said calmly "My sister is a l'Cie."

"What?! A _Pulse_ l'Cie?" was his incredulous response.

"The Fal'Cie has her captive, but I'll find her" she stated her resolve to him, more to boost her spirits.

"Is she still…" he asked but a disgusted sigh from Light quickly shut him up. "What was her Focus? What did the Fal'Cie order her to do? It wasn't 'blow up Cocoon' or anything like that, was it?"

"I didn't ask" Lightning growled dangerously.

Suddenly, a gargling sound from above reach their ears, causing them to look; on the platform above them were, what looked like, crystalline zombies, limping around the platform. Lightning stiffened at the sight of them; Cie'th, the fate that awaited a l'Cie that failed their focus, to spend the rest of their lives trapped in never ending torment.

"If they don't carry out their Focus, l'Cie end up as one of those things; what I'm saying is, if your sister has gone that far…I mean…She still might…H-how can I-? Oh man" he sputtered, completely lost for words. "There's no way to turn a l'Cie back into a human; even if she completes her Focus, it won't change her fate. She'll live out the rest of her life as a Fal'Cie slave."

Lightning's balled fist shook with rage, fighting back tears at the unjust truth; "Don't make her suffer-" Lightning shoved him roughly.

"JUST SAY IT!" she roared letting pent up emotions to burst forth "Any l'Cie, anyone who might become a l'Cie should be wiped off the face of Cocoon!" The bush pilot looked with dinner plate sized eyes.

"It's people like you that started the Purge in the first place" said Lightning acidly.

She turned and moved up the stairs and didn't speak to him again. Dodging past the numerous Cie'th, they proceeded down the long corridor and onto the lift; Lightning's anger at the pilot and the whole situation ate away at her like a parasite. As the lift came to an abrupt halt, the two of them found something that they were not expecting: a teenage girl with soft pink hair lay unconscious on the floor.

"Serah!" screeched Lightning, running over to her baby sister; tucking her arms underneath her legs and cradling her shoulders, Lightning lifted her up.

"Time to go; we have to get out of here before the army-what?" she said upon seeing his look.

"That's a Pulse brand," he said absentmindedly "That girl's a l'Cie."

"I already told you that!"

"Pulse l'Cie are the enemies of Cocoon" he said reaching for his pistols; Lightning eyed him angrily

"So they should die?"

"Listen, if she fails her Focus, you know how that'll end" he said pacifyingly.

"And killing her is a mercy?" She spat furiously.

Then a gentle hand reached up and touched her cheek, Lightning turned to find her sister awake and smiling.

"You came," she breathed as Lightning set her down gently.

"SERAH!" roared a voice from above; Lightning shifted her gaze to find two kids, a red-head girl and a blond boy, and, to her utter revulsion, Snow.

"Serah" he gasped as he ran up and grasped her hand.

"Is that…my hero?" she said smiling wide. Lightning eyed Snow hatefully, he was not going to take her sister from her again; "Let's get you out of here," said Snow brilliantly.

"Hands off!" snapped Lightning "_I'm_ taking her home!"

"Sis, I—"

"-I'M NOT YOUR SISTER!" Lightning snapped again "You couldn't protect her! It's your fault she—"

"-you can save us," came Serah in her sleepy tone.

"Serah?"

"You can save us," repeated Serah "Protect us all. Save…Cocoon"

"Save Cocoon? Serah, was that your Focus?!" asked Lightning as her sister fell limp in her arms.

"Anything, I'll do anything…leave it to me, you'll see, I'll protect Cocoon…I'll save everyone!" Snow promised, earning him another disdainful look from Lightning.

"Somehow," she promised her sister "I'll make things right."

Serah smiled again, "Thank you" she said in a voice that was little more than a whisper; suddenly she began to glow, then she was radiating a brilliant light. She was rising into the air, out of Lightning's grasp.

"SERAH!" she screamed as she held up her arms, as if to catch her. There was another brilliant flash and floating above them was a large block of crystal.

"Why is she turning to crystal?" asked the girl, looking horrorstruck.

"L'Cie who fulfill their Focus are transformed into crystal and gain eternal life" explained the boy, wearing an awestruck look.

"Just like the stories say."

The crystal block came floating down as if it were light as a feather and all of them got full blast of Serah: her body looked as though it were chiseled by a master and sleeping on a bed of crystal.

"Serah, sweet dreams" said Snow softly; Lightning's eyebrows furrowed and pushed the pilot out of her way as she moved over to Snow.

"Sweet dreams?" she asked shrilly "She's not sleeping! Serah's…she's-" involuntary tears fell from her eyes.

"She's alive!" said Snow confidently.

"No!" Lightning shot back, her eyes burning with sorrow and rage

"The legend! Remember the legend! L'Cie who fulfill their focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life; it's the same with Serah: eternal life, she's not dead!" He looked around at all of the unconvinced looks "Serah is my bride-to-be, I promised to be hers forever, I don't care how many years I have to wait-"

WHAM! Snow was silenced as a powerful punch to his nose threw him to the ground.

"IT'S OVER!" shrieked Lightning "Open your eyes and face reality!"

The vestige trembled violently; "What's happening?" cried the girl over the ruckus.

"It must be a Sanctum strike!" cried the pilot "Bring down the vestige and the Fal'Cie right with it!"

As debris began to fall, Lightning and Snow hurled themselves over Serah's crystal body; when, as quickly as it had come, the trembling stopped. Looking up, the five of them witnessed the flash of light and the hiss of compressed air as the door that separated them from the Fal'Cie Anima slid open.

"Trench coat! Where're you going?" roared the pilot as Snow made towards the door,

"Date with the Fal'Cie" he said determinedly "Got some things to talk about."

"What!" said the pilot incredulously, "You're going to ask _it_ to help _her_? Have you lost your mind, kid? That thing wants to chew us up and spit us out!"

"WELL WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?"

Lightning sighed and proceeded up the stairs, her anger and sorrow driving her forward as she led the way into the Fal'Cie chamber. It was pitch-black in the corridor leading to Anima but there it was: sitting at the end of the room was a single metal shell, silent and ominous.

"So this is…the Fal'Cie" breathed the boy (Lightning agreed with his tone: for a pseudo-god, it wasn't all that impressive).

Snow spoke to it, "Serah's a crystal now, you gave her a Focus and she did it! You got what you want now let her go!" He fell silent, as he waited for it to speak back to him, but the metal shell remained silent and still. "Please" he begged, crumpling to his knees "Turn her back, I'll be your l'Cie instead!"

Lightning watched him with a mixture of pity and disgust; "Fine, you go on begging" she said drawing her _Blazefire Saber_, snapping out its blade. "Like this thing gives a damn what we want!"

Lightning struck the shell with a resounding 'clang.' She attacked with everything that she was, unleashing all of her emotions onto the Fal'Cie; it wasn't fair: Matsuki… Amodar… even Cloud, and now Serah too…it just wasn't fair, what had she done to deserve this? Holding her weapon high above her head, she swung it down in an attack that left her staggered.

"Lightning!" said Snow, his voice full of concern as she stumbled back.

"It's this things fault the Purge started," she panted "and it's people who are dying." She turned to Snow, "Serah told us to save Cocoon; that means this thing needs to die!"

Suddenly, the Fal'Cie lit up, enveloping them in a wave of yellow light. Then they were blinded by a dazzling white light, and the metal shell split open, revealing a crystalline head and the shell began to transform into makeshift arms.

"Come on now," said the bush pilot "You really think you can kill a Fal'Cie?"

"I'm doing this for Serah!" cried Lightning, raising her sword.

"I'm in, as long as you don't mind an amateur," he said as he and Snow flanked Light's left and right, "I got these things, might as well use them" he said drawing his pistols.

"Thanks," said Lightning and the three of them launched into battle.

Instinctively, Lightning charged for the head as Snow and the pilot attacked the arms; concentrating all attacks on the Fal'Cie's head, Lightning slashed angrily and silently devoted each attack to one of her two Captains, her Lieutenant and her sister. Suddenly, the Fal'Cie chamber shuddered violently, before it engulfed all of them in darkness; it was cold and Lightning had the familiar feeling that she was suspended in midair. The crystal that made up Anima's head glowed an intense green light and several whips of green energy shot out at them, binding their arms and legs. Lightning struggled against her captor but stopped, when a sharp, fiery, pain spiked her through the chest and all was lost to the void as the curious sensation engulfed her before she dropped out of consciousness.

**~o Special POV o~**

The Stockade was not a fun place to work, not by a long shot; the young PSICOM probie moved down the darkened hallway with his superior, nervously gripping his steel baton.

"Allen!" barked the dark haired officer, causing Thomas Allen to jump, "Stand up straight, these men smell fear, you give them an inch and they will kill you and they _are_ former soldiers so don't kid yourself!"

Private Allen nodded, straightening his spine but did not take his hands off the baton (at once wondering how in the hell he got assigned to the Stockade). He followed his superior to the cell at the farthest end of the corridor; taking his position, Private Allen synchronically turned his magnetic key in its lock and the doors slid open with a violent 'clang'. Standing behind his CO, Allen silently cowered as they stared into the dark room, occupied by a single person whose face was hidden by shadow but stared at them with shining blue eyes.

"Time to go _Captain_" said the Commanding Officer mockingly, "Someone from the Sanctum wants to see you."

**~o Cloud's POV o~**

Cloud rose from the stained cot in the pitch black cell, albeit the Jailer and his lackey (Cloud's stern eyes didn't change as he immediately recognized the boy who recommended that he join PSICOM) forcing handcuffs painfully around his wrists and forcing him forward with the occasional poke from their batons. Leading him through the iron labyrinth and, finally, up a flight of rickety metal stairs, the two guards forced him inside the interrogation room; sitting at the metal table, in one of the two folding chairs, was Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat.

"Good day Captain Strife," she said politely, thought sporting a horrible grin ("grinning more in irony" thought Cloud) as he took a seat.

"Lieutenant Colonel" said Cloud in forced politeness "I didn't expect to see you, come to kick a man while he's down?"

Nabaat's grin turned into an ugly sneer, though her eyes didn't lose any of their elation. "The press told all of Bodhum that you were brought here for questioning on the Fal'Cie, I'm here to make sure that happens."

Cloud grunted, the day that Lieutenant Colonel Jihl Nabaat was here to interrogate him was the day that his hair no longer defied the laws of gravity.

"Did you or did you _not_ know that there was a Pulse Fal'Cie inside the Bodhum vestige?" asked Nabaat authoritatively.

"No," said Cloud bluntly.

"I believe you," ("_No you don't_" Cloud thought savagely, forcing himself to remain silent) "I mean, who let's an enemy of Cocoon simply wander into his jurisdiction and happen to not notice a l'Cie was wandering the streets?"

"If you _don't_ believe me Lieutenant Colonel, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop patronizing me and just spit out what you mean to say!" snapped Cloud.

Nabaat's elated eyes quickly became filled with annoyance.

"Very well then" she said her light tone suddenly becoming much heavier, "The Sanctum, like myself, doesn't believe that the Fal'Cie Anima appeared in Cocoon just as you arrived."

"So you think that I smuggled a Pulse Fal'Cie into Cocoon and then hid it in a crowded tourist attraction?" asked Cloud incredulously.

"Oh good, so you _are_ aware of accusations made against you," Nabaat cooed.

"I've been trapped in a jail cell for twelve hours, _I've had time to think_" said Cloud coldly.

"If I were you Captain, I wouldn't be snapping at the only faction of the military willing to offer you a way out," Nabaat replied coolly.

For the first time, Cloud's eyes widened in surprise, but then furrowed in caution "What do you mean?"

Nabaat's smile returned, a little more nefarious-looking than before. "PSICOM is prepared to offer you a commission in exchange for your cooperation for a campaign we are currently planning."

"And that would be?"

"We have received intelligence from the Purge station at the Hanging Edge of five excessive power spikes spawning from where the Fal'Cie was located. Given this information, we have reason to believe that five new l'Cie have been created; it's quite simple Captain, if you assist us in hunting down and exterminating these l'Cie, then we will grant you a commission as a PSICOM Commander and you regain your freedom."

Though her offer was extraordinarily tempting, Cloud felt the urge to vomit; "My rank as a Guardian Corps Captain will suffice."

"But you'd have so much more power as-"

"-Captain Matsuki entrusted me with my rank and I will gladly keep it, even if it is as superfluous as your offer of freedom" retorted Cloud sharply.

Nabaat raised her eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

"You offer me freedom so I'll cooperate, but there is no freedom for me. As far as the government is concerned I committed a capital offense and there is no pardoning that; you'll use me until something better comes along and the best thing I could hope for is a quick death!"

"You're very astute Captain Strife," said Nabaat shrewdly.

"If there's one thing that I've learned since coming to Cocoon, it's that Shinra and PSICOM are exactly the same: they use what they can until it's no longer an asset, then they eliminate it for security purposes."

Nabaat smiled victoriously, "Well I'm very glad that you understand the magnitude of your situation. Your new squadron will pick you up at eight hundred hours tomorrow, I'll see to it that everything you need to assume active duty is provided," she said taking a business tone and moving over to the door.

"Hold on," he said quickly and stopping her at the door "I have a question."

"Make it quick Captain, I have important things to get back to" she sighed patiently.

"The attack on Bodhum, I know that it was a PSICOM raid"

"What makes you say that?" she asked in a tone that was quite unreadable.

"I may not have been on Cocoon for very long, but even I can tell the difference in technology, and those machines weren't from Pulse" he replied darkly. From his peripherals he could see Nabaat's hand fall from the doorknob and she chuckled softly.

"Very good Captain, which of the machines gave us away?"

"The Warmech, _that_ technology was far too advanced to be Pulsian."

"You said you had a question, Captain Strife."

"So many people died," Cloud muttered angrily "Was it all just to get rid of my men or to discredit me?"

"Of course it was all about you" she said as she opened the door "We could care less about _your_ soldiers."

Cloud's knuckles popped threateningly as his hand balled into a tight fist; Nabaat filed out of the IR and the two jailers reentered, jingling their handcuffs.

Thrown, unceremoniously, back into his cell, Cloud rubbed his wrists gingerly from where the large jailer had cuffed him too tightly. He was seething; betrayed by the military and being used like a puppet ("If I wanted to be treated that way, I'd have started working for Rufus Shinra" thought Cloud bitterly). Thinking back on it, however, Cloud wasn't sure where all of his bravado had come from (considering that he was a dying man); but it didn't matter. Cloud sighed; stripped of all dignity, and as hateful memories of his past with Shinra came flooding back, the situation crashed over him: for the time being, he was a dog for PSICOM.

**(UPDATED) Hoped you liked this chapter and I'll get the next up ASAP; don't forget to R&R :-)**


	5. Chapter 5: Reunion at Lake Bresha

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

The headphones they had given Cloud couldn't stifle the aircrafts engine as it hummed at an earsplitting level. The "_team_" that he had been assigned to were simply nine wardens, each eager but extremely trigger-happy.

They saluted him respectfully. "Sir your stuff's inside and we're ready to depart" said one of them.

Cloud grunted and clambered into the aircraft: no sense getting chummy with PSICOM. Moving to the cargo hold, Cloud opened the metal cases that held his swords; each was as immaculate as he'd last seen them (he quickly fused the parents and slung them over his shoulder and holstered the dual long-swords and twin dagger-swords). As the aircraft lifted into the air with a stomach churning lurch, Cloud hurriedly took a seat and clutched his stomach gingerly, hoping beyond hope that he didn't lose his breakfast.

"Motion sickness, Captain?" asked one of the wardens who took a seat next to him.

"Only in the air" he wheezed, clapping a hand over his mouth, thinking it unwise to speak.

"Sir," came a third warden, this one gruffer than the others, "Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat wanted you to have this" he said holding out a small leather bag. Cloud snatched the bag out his hand with a nod; pulling the bag open and peering inside, Cloud found six tiny orbs: one yellow, four green and one opaque metallic silver. He stared disbelieving at it: why the hell did he have to have items that always came back to him? No matter what happened to them, they always came back! He grabbed the four green Materia and put each to his eye: gazing inside the swirling energies he saw two releasing nuclear force explosions (only one was fiery red and the other a sickly green). Inside the third was a feather emitting a pale orange light and inside the last was a violent shaking. A _Flare_, _Ultima_, _Revive,_ and _Quake_ Materia; gritting his teeth to hold back his queasy stomach, Cloud inserted the three black magic spheres into his right forearm and the white magic crystal into his shoulder, shuddering as they went in with a stomach turning squelch. Picking up the yellow orb inside the bag and putting it to his eye, Cloud found multiple monsters he slaughtered on Gaia and many abilities that he'd learned from them: an _Enemy Skill_ Materia!

"_Score_!" thought Cloud amazingly, excitement causing him to ignore the nasty feeling of the entry and reveling at his good fortune and Nabaat's poor decision making.

"Sir?" came the voice of a fourth warden, causing Cloud to look up, "You left this in the cargo hold."

The warden held out his arm revealing the velvety handle of the _Buster Sword_. Cloud took the sword without a word, though he reverted back to his thoughts of boomerang-like items.

"Okay men, here is what we know…" said the gruff-voiced Warden who began a drone of the mission; Cloud didn't listen at all. He had no intention of going along with this, Nabaat maybe a controlling, manipulative witch but she had no power over him, which left him with only one option: escape. He'd have to get rid of his "team" once they reached their destination and from there he didn't have a clue what his next move was. He wished he still had The Fenrir and thought with a mixture of revulsion and hate that PSICOM had probably stripped it for parts and scrapped the frame for junk; but one thing was for sure: he'd have to flee Cocoon or die trying.

Cloud paused in his planning, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad plan: go out fighting and get what he'd come for in the first place. He sighed, it wasn't much of a plan but it was better than nothing.

"Captain?"

"Wuzzgoinon?" asked Cloud sharply snapping out of his thoughts;

"Do you agree with the tactical forecast, sir?" asked the Warden slowly causing the other eight to turn and face him.

"Er…sure whatever"

"Very good" he shouted adamantly "NO MISTAKES! NO SECOND GUESSES! WE ARE PSICOM AND WE WILL SUCCEED!" He chanted enthusiastically to boost the men's morale.

"Yeah, Death to the L'Cie!" they cheered.

"Hey" called the pilot "We're over Lake Bresha now, I'm gonna get you boys in as close as possible without detection."

Cloud held his stomach and covered his mouth as the aircraft began its rapid descent. Touching down lightly, Cloud was the first off of the vessel, walking around and breathing deeply in attempt to calm his stomach.

"Are you alright Captain?" inquired one of the more gentle operatives, to which Cloud responded with a nod.

"Everyone!" barked another "L'Cie in sight!" Cloud followed the group behind a barrier of crystal, where (upon looking beyond it) he caught sight of the faces of the five l'Cie. Two of them were kids (that he'd seen in his dream) while the other three belonged to a trio that he never expected to ever see again.

"Alright, you all have your orders" barked the gruff Warden "Move out!"

**~o Lightning's POV o~**

Lightning was having a very strange dream. Though many flashes appeared before her, she could only comprehend a handful: a bright light…a raging multi-armed beast, roaring furiously…then its many arms lashing out to grab hold of something.

"SERAH!" a voice beyond her eyelids roared, causing them to fly open with a jolt.

She was lying on her back and her skull was numb, though her chest was a mass of pain. Lifting her head gingerly and clutching her heart, Lightning found Snow, sitting up with an arm extended, the pilot and both kids (the girl regaining consciousness next to her and the boy sitting with his head buried in his knees). As they looked around, marveling at both the strange and horrific sight before them, it was the bush pilot who spoke:

"This must be-Lake Bresha?"

The once beautiful lake had become a crystal wasteland; even the ground they stood on crunched from a layer of crystalline dust. "Well I guess we fell from up there and _the lake turned to crystal_?"

Lightning turned upward, looking at the impressive height.

"Help me out here: I mean did the Fal'Cie do this? How in the world did we end up here?"

"How should I know?" Lightning snapped at his incessant questioning. "

We're alive, but how?" breathed the girl curiously.

"Serah!" chimed Snow loudly causing the girl to jump "No one survives a fall from that height, not without a miracle. Serah saved us!"

Hate welled up in Lightning's gut, "Serah?" she hissed incredulously, her fist tightening into a fist "Listen, it's all your fault she got-"

"-HEY, HEY, HEY!" roared the pilot in fright, looking past Lightning.

She turned sharply and took a few steps back as several mammoth, growling Cie'th came limping down the crystal hill.

"Look out!" shouted Snow, roughly shoving her backward as a Cie'th dropped its tree-trunk arm on top of her head. Snow caught it in a defensive cross of his arms before spreading them and sending the monster into a wide stagger; suddenly, things started getting weird (even by Lightning's standards). Snow's arm (which was getting cocked back for a punch) began radiating and icy blue aura; rocketing out his fist, the Cie'th was blasted backward, covered in a thin layer of frost. Snow stared at his arm in wonder as the aura dissipated "What did I just do?"

"You used magic!" roared a voice from behind. Lightning and Snow turned to find the boy standing, "You used the power of the l'Cie!" The boy ran his fingers through his hair and cried frantically "The Fal'Cie cursed us, we're l'Cie now!"

Lightning drew _Blazefire_, transforming it to blade-mode with a flick of her wrist and the whir of machinery, sarcastically snarling "Right."

She charged and struck the Cie'th Ghast with all of her might; her blade collided mercilessly with the monster's half crystal body, tearing through bone until the monster fell backward in a rapidly growing pool of blood. Lightning stared at it and then to her own sword: her strength was different from before, like it was not her own. She turned back to the others, watching Snow and the others bring down the other two; her gaze shifted down to her chest, placing her hand over the pain: it could have happened, not to her! Driven by frustration and anger, Lightning drove the tip of her sword into the floored Cie'th's bloody-red eye.

"So, we really are l'Cie," breathed Snow dimwittedly as Lightning stowed _Blazefire_ back in its holster and rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"You too?" Snow asked the girl (who nodded and referenced her upper thigh); Lightning turned to the pilot who was examining the l'Cie brand on his chest, "L'Cie to the last" she murmured to herself.

The boy collapsed onto his knees, "Why me? I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!" he bellowed; Lightning crossed her arms, eyebrows furrowing.

"AND YOU HAD TO GO AND ATTACK THAT THING! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" The boy fell silent, enveloping them all in a suffocatingly awkward silence; in a move that surprised Lightning, the boy was back on his feet (at an impressive speed) and barked at Snow

"ALL OF THIS IS YOUR AND SERAH'S FAULT!"

"WATCH IT!" Snow roared. The startled boy tripped over his feet but continued backing away from Snow until he made contacts with Lightning's boots. She glared down at him, half-angrily; he was right to blame Snow but not Serah. She even felt a sadistic pride as the boy wailed loudly before curling into a tight ball.

She immediately felt disgusted with herself. He was just scared and confused, and with having his world becoming turned upside-down by becoming a l'Cie, now was not a good time for her to be antagonizing him.

"Sorry" muttered Snow; the red-haired girl wrapped a comforting arm around the boy's shaky shoulder.

"Everything's going to be alright, you'll see" she said with a gentle smile as she pulled the boy to his feet "Come on, off we go!"

Lightning followed as the two kids moved down the only path in sight.

"Okay," said Lightning aloud, meditatively, "If we don't know our Focus, how do we complete it?"

The girl turned to face her, "I think…I saw it" she said slowly.

"Saw what?" asked Lightning, inwardly hoping to jog her memory. The girl was silent before shaking her head.

"That _is_ how a Focus comes down, people" said the Pilot pessimistically "The Fal'Cie? They don't spell it out with clear-cut instructions; all you get is a hazy image."

Lightning and Snow gave him the same furrowed eyebrow look; "Well, that's what they say" said the Pilot defensively "You know, legends and all."

Lightning took a moment to think: "_None of us know what the hell is going on and all we have is a hazy image…that's promising_!" Lightning turned to the boy "Did _you_ see anything?" she asked, surprised to see him jump.

"I uh—I just…It's all kind of foggy but, I saw this big—I mean _towering_—"

"-W-wait a minute!" interrupted the Pilot "Hold on now: Did we _all_ have the same dream?"

"Ragnarok" said Snow and Lightning in unison. Lightning slapped a hand over her mouth; the word had come so suddenly and from out-of-the-blue.

"So we _all_ had the same dream" said the pilot "We all heard that _same_ voice."

"You mean that was our Focus?" the boy inquired disbelievingly "But how are we supposed to know what to do from that?"

"That's the tricky part" the girl explained "The dream's the only hint the Fal'Cie gives us, figuring out what to do with it: that's our job."

Lightning stared at her, either she had wisdom far beyond her years, or she knew more than she was letting on.

"Okay, okay…" said pilot calmly "We're Pulse l'Cie, right? Enemies of Cocoon! So does that mean our Focus is-? Are we supposed to—"

"-Save her!" Snow piped up.

"Say what?"

"Our Focus, is to protect Cocoon!" said Snow confidently.

"Really?"

"Okay, and why is that?" Lightning watched him as he was silent for a moment.

"Serah told us!" he said appealing to the group "Let's do it! We're all in this together!" Seeing the looks of disbelief, Snow finally said "I'm going to look for Serah, she ought to be nearby," before taking off running.

"I'm coming too!" cheered the girl, racing after him.

"Geez, that boy can't stay still!" murmured the pilot.

"Really…" concurred the boy looking affronted. Lightning stared as they followed; the whole situation was absurd, but without a better plan, she had no choice but to play along for the time being. Lightning too set off after the group; as she caught up, she watched as Snow punched the air with a laugh (a pang of annoyance surged through her).

"That's the reason we're l'Cie" he said cheerily "To stop it—to keep Cocoon safe!"

"Yeah, why don't you give us one reason to believe that? One reason," barked the Pilot in an annoyed tone.

"Serah" said Snow simply "She said to protect Cocoon, and then she turned to crystal. _That's_ the proof right there: she completed her Focus! That means ours is to save Cocoon." (Lightning folded her arms, not liking one word of Snow's logic) "Serah's Fal'Cie was the same as ours," continued Snow, turning to Lightning. "Our Focus has _got_ to be the same. We were chosen to be guardians, to defeat Ragnarok, it makes sense!"

"The hell it does!" snapped the pilot incredulously "You're grasping at straws, son! Pulse Fal'Cie are Cocoon's enemies: and we just got to be recruited by one of them!"

He took a moment to take several, seething, deep breaths "If I were a betting man…I'd put us on the other side."

"So Serah's an enemy too?" hissed Snow, his temper flaring "Well I don't buy it!"

Snow turned to Lightning again "We have the power to save Cocoon, if we work together and carry out our Focus-" he fell silent at the look Lightning gave him and the blade she held at his throat.

"Our Focus?" breathed Lightning angrily allowing the dam to break at full fury; "The Fal'Cie took Serah from us _and you want to help it_? Whose side are you on?"

"FREEZE!" roared a voice from behind, causing all five of them to jump; they all wheeled to find seven PSICOM Wardens pointing their guns at them (Lightning turned her head sharply, in time to watch as two more flanked their rear and boxing them in).

"Place your hands behind your head!" one of the ordered; Lightning would have rather had them bury a bullet in her brain than to surrender, but with the odds so bad, she reluctantly dropped _Blazefire_ with a resounding 'clang' and did as ordered.

"You fall off the Purge train?" one of them asked condescendingly, slinging his rifle across his shoulder.

"Maybe" breathed Lightning acidly.

"ARE YOU TALKING BACK TO ME? HUH?" the Warden roared, shoving the barrel of his gun under Lightning's chin.

"Stand down soldier!" roared another voice; the eight remaining Warden's snapped to attention, as a man with spikey blond hair, clad in black and wielding a large sword tromped over the hill. Lightning stared disbelievingly but it was Snow who gained the ability to speak first:

"_Captain Strife_?"

Cloud stared at them hard as one of the Warden's handed him Lightning's weapon with a respectful salute. Lightning's disbelief quickly devolved into incredulousness:

"SO YOU'RE WORKING WITH PSICOM NOW?!" she bellowed angrily.

Cloud shrugged, "It was either that or be publicly executed."

He sighed as he raised his massive sword threateningly at the group, "We have our orders to bring you in, preferably dead," he looked at a Warden and pointed his chin at the group; two, loyally, remained by his side while the other seven encircled them. All nine raising their weapons to a firing position; Lightning stared angrily at her firing squad while the feeling of deepest betrayal blazed through her like fire.

"THREE…TWO…" shouted a Warden, when suddenly, Cloud spun quickly and caught the two soldiers next to him with the full brunt of his heavy blade; the other PSICOM soldiers watched as their comrades fell to the ground.

"CAPTAIN STRIFE HAS BETRAYED US! OPEN FIRE!" ordered a warden in the back; all guns turned towards Cloud.

Acting on instinct, Lightning knocked the gun away from the closest soldier, before mercilessly thrusting her elbow into his chest. Taking hold of his wrist in a bone-breaking grip, Lightning slammed her open palm into his spine and shoved her boot into the airborne soldier's back, knocking him back to the ground. From the corner of her eye, she could see Snow wave his arms like a windmill, hitting the Warden nearest to him, but do nothing but distract him. Turning to Cloud, she was in time to catch him toss back her _Blazefire Saber_; Lightning caught him with masterful ease and then pierced his tip four inches into the fallen Warden's chest.

'Shik-shik'; the sound hit Lightning like a frigid knife, sending chills down her spine. She looked up to find a PSICOM agent several feet away and his gun trained on her; there was no way she could evade in time.

BOOM! The soldier was sideswiped by, what looked like, a bluish-white comet; the group watched as similar comets hit the remaining soldiers. Lightning turned to witness her Captain radiate a ghostly blue fire. A sudden whine of turbines cut across the air as an airship began a very slow ascent; Lightning watched as Cloud began to glow a bright orange light, before driving his sword into the ground with a deafening 'BOOM.' Several fiery meteors rained from the sky and struck the fleeing aircraft; it went down in a fierce explosion. They all turned to Cloud (who was pulling his sword out of the ground).

"Um, sir?" started the girl "Are you a l'Cie too?"

Cloud turned to her and replied calmly "No."

"You have to be!" cried the boy hysterically "How else could you cast magic like that?"

Cloud stared at him for a moment before placing a hand over his arm; Lightning watched with a mixture of shock and revulsion as he withdrew a shining orb, a looked of utmost discomfort crossing his face.

"It's called Materia," he said tossing the small ball to the boy "On Gaia, it's the life force of the planet condensed into a small crystal. Anyone who's proficient enough can manipulate this life force as magic."

"So what's going on here, soldier-man?" asked the pilot dubiously "First you come to Cocoon for no reason, you start working for the GC, then you're with PSICOM, and now you're aiding fugitive l'Cie? What's going on, what's you're deal?"

"Sorry about all of the confusion," said Cloud putting the green orb back into his arm "But there really wasn't any other way for me to let you know that I wasn't an enemy."

Lightning shook her head "I'm just glad that you're not our enemy to begin with! But what are you doing here sir?"

"When they took me from Bodhum they were going to execute me for being a public enemy" said Cloud, stowing his sword on his shoulder. "But PSICOM decided to sink their fangs into me; they cut me a deal: I help them kill you guys and I get to keep my life."

"_And you went along with that_?"

"Don't be naïve" Cloud snapped "According to them I committed a capital offense! Even if I had rolled over and done what they told me, they would not have kept their end; running was the only chance that I had!"

The pilot nodded in agreement.

"We need to get moving. As soon as PSICOM realizes that ships signal isn't going to respond, the very place we are standing will be swarming with Sanctum troops" said Cloud "Light?" he asked her with a cocked eyebrow "What is Snow doing?"

Lightning turned to find Snow waving his arms stupidly.

"Snow?" she called, her cheeks burning; Snow turned to her and noted her confused look.

"I'm trying to do magic again; I couldn't do it during that last fight and I can't figure out why."

"First of all, stop waving your arms!"

Suddenly, excitement split across the young blond man's face, "Of course! Cloud, you know how to do magic, teach us…please!"

"We don't have time!" argued the spikey blond, "PSICOM is setting up borders all across the area and if we don't get out soon they're going to get all of us!"

"Come on Cloud, _please_?" Snow begged.

"As much as I agree with you, he's got a good point" said the pilot pointing to Snow, "If this magic stuff is going to help us, I think we should be prepared."

"Come on, pretty please?" said the girl putting on the same begging face as Snow.

"I should warn you," said Lightning "They aren't going to stop until they get what they want."

"Fine," said Cloud throwing up his hands in surrender "But listen up, because we don't have time to be repetitious!" Everyone trained their focus on Cloud.

"Ok: the human body is a temple of strength but what some fail to realize is that there are two kinds of strength: the physical (he flexed his arms) and the mental (he waved an arm mythically). Right now, all of you are still treating magic like it's a physical strength, it's not: magic is all up here," he said jabbing a finger towards his temple.

"So it's like a sword being an extension of your body?" inquired Lightning comprehendingly "and magic is an extension of your mind."

"Precisely" replied Cloud with an approving smile.

"Okay, so we just use our heads then?" cheered the red-headed girl; she closed her eyes and began to concentrate putting on a face that made her look constipated. Cloud and Lightning exchanged confused and repulsed looks.

"Not quite" said Cloud (Lightning was grateful that she stopped making that face). "It's like Lightning said: _magic is an extension of your mind_. It's very simple; all you have to do is focus your mind on the source of your power and channel it into a route of escape."

Cloud held out an arm (a motion which everybody mimicked) "Concentrate…" he said softly; Lightning watched with interest as a spot of yellow shined brightly on Cloud's arm.

"…Hold it back…" he continued, becoming engulfed in a familiar cloak of ghostly azure flame "…and when you feel the reins slipping from your grasp, RELEASE!" The flames amassed on his hand before launching the comets of bluish-white that crashed into a wall of crystal with a thunderous crack.

"Okay," said Snow holding out his arm; the group watched as he stood in silent anticipation, when suddenly his arm began trembling.

"Hi-yah!" roared Snow moving his arm with a theatrical wave. But nothing happened. "Urgh, I don't get it!" cried Snow frustrated "Why isn't it working?"

"Give it time" replied Cloud encouragingly "Magic is tricky, even you know what you're doing."

A roaring explosion rose from behind them; Lightning whipped out her _Blazefire Saber_ only to find the girl staring amazed at a crystal pillar that burst into flames and the boy staring at his hand disbelievingly.

"You did it!" the girl cheered, "It wasn't hard" he mumbled "I just followed Cloud's advice."

Lightning stifled pride as she observed Snow look disheartened by the boy's ability.

"Hold on," said Cloud moving over to the boy (who suddenly looked scared) "I know you just said that you followed my instruction, but what exactly did you do?"

"Well, I tried focusing on my hand, but I couldn't get past the pain in my wrist" he replied involuntarily rubbing his wrist.

"Let me take a look," said Cloud taking the boys wrist and pulling back his yellow wristband; "What's this?" asked Cloud curiously as he observed a purple light fade from the boy's wrist.

"It's my l'Cie brand" said the boy jerking his hand out of Cloud's grasp.

"That's it!" roared Cloud causing Lightning and the pilot to jump "Your brands are the source of your powers!"

"Come again?"

"Hear me out: I am able to cast magic because my Materia is the source of my power. The kid was able to cast magic because he was focusing on the only recent place that was directly touched by magic."

Lightning stared at him with a confused gaze and she was certain that she was not the only one.

"Okay, let's try this: instead of focusing on your hands, try focusing on your brands" said Cloud simply.

Lightning watched as Snow followed the instructions but was equally as surprised when his arm glowed that same icy blue aura from before. Launching out his arm, a jet of ice flew forth and smashed mercilessly with the crystals around them; Snow laughed in success. There was another burst of orange light and thundering BOOM, as the bush pilot launched a ball of flame from his chest. Lightning couldn't believe what she was seeing, magic? Really?

"Congratulations" said Cloud dryly, "You've just mastered Magic 101; now let's get moving shall we?"

Lightning nodded approvingly, finally: an instruction that made sense!

"I thought they'd be tougher than that" said the pilot suddenly taking one last look at the fallen soldiers, "These guys are PSICOM, yeah? They're supposed to be cream-of-the-crop."

"Yeah but PSICOM's an anti-Pulse task force" explained Snow "They haven't fought a war in centuries. Bunch of rookie troops waving around overpriced toys" he added, voice full of contempt.

"So from what you're telling me, it sounds like a regular old soldier has got more training than special forces" replied an awestruck pilot.

"Nothing for us l'Cie, and renowned warrior, to worry about!" laughed Snow.

"Cut the crap!" snapped Lightning, annoyed by his arrogance "Their grunts maybe green but PSICOM's elites are cold-blooded beasts! They hit the field and its game over!"

"I agree," said Cloud "You may have special powers but you're still one man against an army, don't get cocky!" Lightning stifled a smile, deeply appreciative of his support.

"Uh-oh," said the girl "Then let's run away, ciao!" and took off running without another word.

"Hold on, don't run off on your own!" Cloud called before setting off after her; Lightning followed in a brisk walk. The six of them travelled in silence for a long time.

"Weird isn't it?" Snow mused out loud "Of all the messed up ways to meet; might as well make introductions: I'm Snow, Snow Villiers."

Lightning hung her head in annoyance: why did he have to talk?

"Hope. Hope Esthiem," said the boy.

"What about her?" asked the girl.

"Bodhum Security Regiment, she goes by 'Lightning.' Last name's Farron; _first_? Anybody's guess," replied Snow. Lightning crossed her arms, she didn't like being talked about like she couldn't hear them and she especially disliked someone else introducing her.

"Vanille" said the girl cheerily.

"Sazh Katzroy, good to meet you" said the pilot, rounding out the group.

"And that's-" started Snow but interrupted by an impatient Hope

"-WE ALL KNOW WHO HE IS! HE'S CLOUD STRIFE, HERO OF GAIA AND FORMER CAPTAIN OF THE BODHUM REGIMENT!"

"Hey watch your mouth kid!" barked Snow, "He may be in the same boat as us but he's still a Captain so give him a little respect!"

"Snow if _you_ call me Captain there's going to be trouble!" said Cloud snippily "You said it yourself, I'm in the same boat, so there's no sense in making me superior to everyone. Besides, I am no longer affiliated with the Guardian Corps, so I'm just Cloud."

Snow grinned "Right, sorry Cloud." Lightning rolled her eyes.

"Lightning, I have a question" said Cloud as they tromped up a hill "What are _you_ doing here? And where is your sister? I figured she'd be with you."

Before Lightning could answer, something at the foot of the hill caught her eye: embedded in a thick bed of crystal spikes, was a masterfully chiseled statue of a sleeping girl. "Serah" she gasped, catching sight of her sister.

"SERAH!" roared Snow, pushing her back and running towards her. He looked around, grabbed a nearby shard of metal and began to dig; Vanille and Sazh, each wielding metal shards joined him.

"I see…I'm sorry Lightning" said Cloud somberly placing a comforting hand on Lightning's shoulder.

Lightning turned away, fighting back tears; she'd failed the only family she had left.

"This is good-bye," she muttered, staring into her sister's crystal features and then began to move away.

"Lightning?" came Snow's voice "You're just going to leave her?"

"PSICOM will be here soon, if they find us, we're all dead" she replied attempting to keep her voice calm and stony but an overpowering anger welled up inside her again "You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels?"

"If I leave her, then I'll never know!" Snow argued hotly "We'll be fine. I can handle anything they throw at us! No one will die. I'll protect Serah _and_ Cocoon!"

Lightning wheeled to face him, her eyes burning with hatred, she marched up to Snow and a dull pain flared through her hand as she plowed her fist mercilessly into his cheek, knocking him to the ground.

"DOES SHE LOOK PROTECTED TO YOU?"

"I can save her!" Snow shot back, getting to his feet only to be knocked back down by another powerful punch, the same dull pain surging up her arm.

"WHAT COULD _YOU_ POSSIBLY DO?" she bellowed coldly.

"WHATEVER IT TAKES!" Snow shouted back; Lightning stalled, slightly taken aback, she hadn't expected that kind of reaction from him. Frustration and fury welled up in her stomach again, and as she reared back her fist again Lightning felt a strong grip grasp her wrist.

She turned her head to find that the hand belonged to Cloud, who was watching her with stony eyes and shaking his head slowly.

"Don't lose your cool," he said slowly as if he were mentoring a raging toddler. "I know you're upset but you can't let emotion take over your rationality!"

Lightning took several deep breaths (Cloud released her) and headed off.

"You're leaving?" barked Snow incredibly staring at her hard "Cloud help me out here!"

But Cloud but he shook his head "Look Snow, I understand where you're coming from and I'm sure Lightning feels the same way that you do. But we have to think of the group as a whole and we can't all stay behind to help Serah; and with the situation as it is, I think it would be safer for her if we left her behind."

"You can't mean that!" said Snow exasperatedly.

"I'm sorry but I'm with Lightning on this one, we should keep moving" said Cloud with conviction in his voice.

Snow turned to the other three.

"Look, we want to help Serah too" said Sazh pacifyingly "But without tools we could be digging for days. The army is on our trail, we should keep moving for now!"

Snow stared at all of them in disbelief and anger "So I just abandon her and save myself?"

"What about your Focus?" spat Lightning disgustedly "What happened to: _banding together and saving the world_? Isn't that what you promised? Now you just want to forget it all and die right here?" Lightning let her knife-like words sink into Snow with a slight satisfaction "You're nothing but talk-"

"-That's enough!" barked Cloud cutting off Lightning's sentence. She grunted but refrained from speaking anymore. Cloud moved forward, and knelt down before Serah; Lightning could hear him mutter something to her but his voice was too low for her to make out what he was saying.

"Snow I want you to hold on to something for me," said Cloud pushing back onto his feet. Taking hold of a red-velvet handle, Cloud held out the _Buster Sword_ (Snow reached for it with a gawk). Cloud pulled it out of his reach, "I'm only lending this to you, so I expect to get it back.

"You got it!" said Snow soberly with his flashy grin and gracious took the offered handle. Cloud nodded at Snow one last time (as he fastened the sword to his back) before turning to the group, "Anyone not staying behind, let's get going" he said leading off.

Lightning grinned to herself, she liked having Cloud with them, his wisdom and experience was quite comforting to be around. As Lightning began to follow she was stopped by Snow.

"Lightning, I'll do whatever it takes; I'll complete this Focus _and_ keep Serah safe! That's my promise!"

"Great job so far," she responded coldly and continued on her way. Lightning listened absentmindedly as Vanille jabbered on about some odd nonsense and the sounds of Snow's resumed digging faded into the distance.

"_Okay_: _you're a l'Cie_, _a fugitive of the military_, _and you've got nothing left_…" Lightning assessed the situation in her mind "_Alright Farron_, _so what's the next move_?" Lightning thrust the question on herself like she would her sword into an enemy: quickly and severely. She had to keep on top of things, what was her next move? "Hold up!" barked Cloud from the front; Lightning froze and she could hear the rhythmic footsteps behind her cease. The former Bodhum Captain moved up and glanced over the ridge; he turned back to them, waving them forward and pressing a finger to his lips. Lightning edged up quietly and peered over: in the valley below was a fresh, fully armed battalion of PSICOM troops disembarking from a carrier-class airship. "They must be hunting Purge survivors" sighed Sazh dropping onto all fours, so as not to be seen.

"PSICOM is springing their trap" said Cloud disgustingly.

"I hope everyone made it out okay" breathed Vanille genuinely.

"So do I…" concurred Sazh "…But nowhere is safe for them now. I guess the Fal'Cie think that human's aren't worth the effort, that we'd just kill each other off."

"L'Cie are not human" said Hope darkly.

"Listen you, that's enough!" snapped Vanille, charging to her feet and taking hold of his wrist. "We're still alive, that's something" she said her voice taking an almost frightening turn from annoyed to cheery.

Lightning listened, though her eyes remained fixated on the army of troops below; the Fal'Cie had always stepped in before now to prevent such cataclysm and now they weren't doing a damn thing about it! Suddenly, a loud humming enveloped the group as a small fleet of airships soared above them.

"We need to move!" barked Cloud, the urgency in his voice was palpable.

"Why? What's going on?" asked Hope looking fearful.

"They're sealing off the area," explained Lightning hurriedly "They're trying to trap they stragglers and if we don't get moving soon, we're going to get caught in the net!"

They bolted after Cloud, who had found the only way left for them to go: up!

"You've got to be kidding me!" Sazh complained though the Chocobo chick in his hair chirped excitedly "Man, I'm getting too old for this stuff!" and he began to climb immediately after Cloud.

Lightning hurried Hope and Vanille up the crystal wall before following, making doubly sure to use the indents left by Cloud's mammoth sword (currently being used to propel its master up the vertical wall). Feeling the wind dance through her hair as she climbed, Lightning felt dizzy with the urge to look down, though she pushed herself onwards, refusing the urge. Reaching up for the next grip, she could feel her hand meet something not crystal but fleshy; Lightning looked up and found, to her relief, that Cloud offered her a hand on the final ledge.

"Multiple weapons and climbing equipment" said Lightning dryly "What can't your sword do?"

Cloud smiled at her attempted joke when his eye caught something beyond her. Lightning turned to find the fleet of airships circling an area like vultures: the area where they had left Snow behind.

"Hey" said Cloud softly "Are you going to be okay?" Lightning didn't respond.

"I wonder what it would be like; to turn to crystal I mean" Sazh mused, almost to himself.

"You going to complete your Focus?"

"Maybe, if I knew what it was!" shrugged Sazh, "I probably don't want to know."

"Don't go thinking stuff like that!" Cloud advised "We don't know how long the road is and thinking like that isn't going to accomplish anything except breaking your spirit!"

Lightning listened to Cloud's words intently and did her best to push all negative thoughts out of her mind and focus on her target.

Hey Lightning?" asked Vanille cautiously, "Did Serah say anything to you about her Focus?"

Lightning stared into her striking green eyes, the girl's question making her think those spirit breaking thoughts.

"Nothing" she breathed clutching at the silver lightning pendant around her neck.

"Oh" moaned Vanille, realizing her blunder "You know what? She probably didn't want to worry you."

"Or she just didn't think that she could trust me," said Lightning sadly, pushing herself forward, doing her best to ignore the quickly forming lump-in-her-throat. She led the group in silence until a strange sound met her ears: she had gotten used to the rhythmic footfalls on crystal dust until her heavy boots clomped onto something solid and echoed loudly. Coming out of her thoughts, Lightning found a mammoth stone building that looked like it was a marvelous place with a magnificent purpose that now stood in ruins. Embarking up the long stone stairway, Lightning halted the group with a wave of her arm: standing before her, staring at her and Cloud with angry, bloodshot, eyes was a green-skinned behemoth.

"Do you think it can see us?" whispered Sazh his voice shaking with fear.

"Sazh, it's big, it's stupid and, moreover, it's strong! I _highly_ doubt that it is either blind or deaf!" Lightning hissed annoyed, reaching for _Blazefire_, slowly and steadily.

"What should we do?" asked Hope who cringed behind the cowering pilot;

"Run away?" Vanille suggested, less-than-helpfully.

"Not necessary" said Cloud at a normal volume, taking hold of his weapon; the beast charged, Lightning gripped her weapon's handle tightly. In a move faster than she could have predicted, Cloud swung his sword down, catching the behemoth square on the head, slamming it face-first into the ground; the behemoth growled in pain before becoming silent.

"Oh, wow!" gasped Vanille as she and Hope moved to examine the unconscious beast.

"Don't get too close" Cloud warned "I didn't kill it! It's only knocked out, so don't give any incentive to wake up." Both kids jumped away from the fallen monster.

He was stone still for a moment before he snapped his fingers; Vanille gasped loudly as a ghostly, acid green dragon curled around each one of them before fading with an ethereal roar.

"The hell was that?"

"Don't worry, it was a defensive magic" replied Cloud pacifyingly, "If there is more of those things in here, it should keep us safe. Now let's get going."

Lightning followed behind him, not releasing _Blazefire_, as Cloud led them through the ruins.

"Hold up," he said suddenly, causing Lightning and the rest to freeze. He turned back to them, a finger pressed to his lips, and pointed to the left; the group turned to find more patrolling PSICOM and domestic peace-keepers ("Big surprise there" Lightning thought sarcastically).

"What do you think?" Cloud asked her "Should we fight or find a quieter route?"

Lightning tightened her grip on _Blazefire's_ handle; she wanted to fight, she wanted so badly to bash in their brains and release her pent up stress and aggression but with no idea how many more lay within the bowels of the ruins, she knew in her gut (much to her annoyance) that it would not be smart to fight. She glanced around, looking for any kind of shortcut, when she spotted it: nestled on the great stone wall, just behind a large mass of crystalized fire, was a hole-in-the-wall, big enough for each of them to get through but small enough to miss. She moved over to it, leading the group as she went, and stepped through; finding the coast clear, she signaled the group and herded them through ("Nicely done" Cloud complimented, causing Lightning to blush). The group moved up the next flight of stairs, three-out-of-five huffing and sweaty, until they reached a square courtyard enveloped more in the crystalline flames.

"Stay close!" Lightning barked as Vanille ran past her with a huge grin on her face.

"I want to look around!" she called back without turning. Lightning pursed her lips at the girl, did she think a life-threatening situation meant a free vacation?

"What's up?" asked a deep, slow voice as Cloud walked to her side.

"That girl" Lightning sighed frustrated "With her, it's like we're at a bloody theme park!"

To her amazement, Cloud actually smiled: "You think she's annoying now but trust me, that's a morale booster you'll _want_ to keep around."

An earsplitting shriek cut across the air like a bullet; Lightning snapped her head forward to find Vanille running back towards the group. Hot on her heels, a very large, multi-winged, beast roared deafeningly before them; Lightning unsheathed her weapon with a '_flick_'.

She charged in, pushing off the ground with every ounce of force that she could muster, Lightning flew through the air and burying her blade into the beast in a diagonal attack. She attacked opposite, forming a cross-shaped cut; twisting around, Lightning dragged her sword across the monster's body before fluidly transitioning into a masterful backflip, assaulting the creature one final time before touching back down. Sazh, Hope and Vanille charged in, each lobbing orbs of wind, fireballs and ice shards at the injured beast only for it to flap it's wings powerfully, gaining altitude and away from their spells. With the beast that high up and out of reach by magic, Lightning knew that her sword would be less than useless; she began thinking quickly, what she really needed was something as high as the creature itself. She looked down at her hand, rolled her eyes, and thought nothing else for it: she placed her hand over her brand, Lightning began to concentrate. She could feel the power flooding her body, though she held it back as best she could and when the dam was ready to burst, Lightning waved her arm and released the power. The winged beast screeched in pain as it was hailed by a single bolt of lightning; staring, rather impressed by her first spell, Lightning looked from her sword to her hand, thinking:

"I could get used to this!"

As soon as she thought it, the monster turned and smashed through the stone wall into another part of the courtyard, revealing a distinct purple aura emanating from another set of razor sharp fangs on its back.

"It's charging up" Cloud noted warningly.

"_Charging_…_What are you talking about_? _Charging for what_?" panted Sazh wearily.

"Its last moments" said Lightning arrogantly, gripping _Blazefire_ tightly, and charged. She began to concentrate as she ran, storing power into her brand again only this time, she imagined a connection between her l'Cie brand and her _Blazefire Saber_. As she did, something good and extraordinarily bad happened simultaneously: the first was that her blade began to vibrate as she channeled her magic into it; the bad part; was that the longer she held her concentration the weaker she could feel her body become.

The strange, overpowering, tiredness began to overtake her; the run became a crawling walk before collapsing onto one knee. The winged monster barreled towards her; Lightning lifted her sword, blade pointed downward into a defensive crouch. There was the sound of rock breaking and another roar before everything became still and silent again; Lightning looked from between the space in her folded arm to find Cloud standing over the, no longer moving, beast, and half the length of the neck lay severed several feet away.

"Are you alright?" asked Cloud gruffly; Lightning nodded, taken aback by Cloud's behavior.

"Channeling magic into weaponry is really advanced magic, you weren't ready for that! You should know better than to break your limits so early and without experience!"

Lightning put _Blazefire_ in his holster and took Cloud's reprimanding with furrowed eyebrows; this coming from a guy who used techniques so stressful on his body that they made him cough up blood?

Vanille laughed, quickly cutting the tension between the two.

"Check it out!" she cheered pointing ahead. Lightning followed her finger to find a conveniently placed airship. Cloud pulled her arm around his neck and hoisted her up onto exhausted legs as Vanille continued on about how it would "make things easier!" Then the creepiest sensation trickled down Lightning's spine; turning her head and looking around sharply, the creepiness did not subside when she found nothing there.

"Something wrong?"

"I don't like this" Lightning responded hoarsely "This thing is too convenient…and I just had that feeling that we were being watched."

"That maybe," said Cloud in his usual calming voice "But we can't look a gift horse in the mouth and right now, we've got nothing better going for us!"

Lightning nodded in agreement, but did not let the creepy feeling go (especially when she noticed Cloud give a backwards glance when he thought she wasn't looking). With the aid of Sazh, Cloud assisted Lightning into the airship and (with a brisk "Thank you very much" to the both of them) strapped herself onto the leather seat.

The engine hummed loudly as Sazh ignited the power; the ship rocked and then took off like a shot, slamming each of their heads backward.

"OH NO!" Sazh screamed as golden beams rained down from above.

"GIVE ME THAT!" Lightning roared, wrestling the controls from him and mashing her finger onto the trigger. The main gun roared as it returned fire, piercing through the crappy shielding around one of the carrier ships above and allowing them to soar past.

"Did we get 'em?" asked Vanille loudly over the dying chain gun.

"WE GOT ONE OF THEM!" Lightning shot back, not turning around.

"THEY'RE STILL BEHIND US!" Hope screamed looking out his window.

"STOP THAT!" Sazh screamed as Lightning maneuvered the airship so wildly that everybody was screaming hysterically.

"HEY, I SAID STOP!" he shouted, wrestling the controls away from her "DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!"

"How are you going to lose them?" asked Hope, holding onto the chair in front of him with fear on his face.

"YOU GOT ME KID!" the frustrated pilot snapped as he lifted the nose of the ship vertical and they shot upwards. As Lightning plopped back in her seat, the whole cabin was blinded by a sudden white light as they emerged from the chasm and out into the open sky; bullets rained all around them.

"They're still after us? Give me a break!" Sazh shouted as he maneuvered across the skies; "Hold on!" he roared pushing the throttle for all it was worth and the airship shot forward in a massive burst of speed. The cabin shook violently until Sazh eased back until the engine sputtered and died; Sazh smashed his hand onto the control panel and the engine miraculously roared back to life.

"Oh for the love of all that's good"

"Cloud, are you okay?" Vanille asked gently; Lightning turned to find him crouched over in his seat with a hand on his mouth, the other clutching his stomach, and his skin taking a slight green tinge.

"I'll be fine," he groaned "Just a little motion sick…and the kamikaze flying isn't helping…_ugh_" he slapped his hand over his mouth again to keep from vomiting.

Lightning trained her attention on the holo-screen that had popped on in front of her (Sazh civilian pilot skills hard at work).

_Next_, _an update on the status of the Purge_ said the Reporter monotonously _Just moments ago_, _Sanctum announced the successful conclusion of the Purge along with the safe arrival of Cocoon migrants to their new homes on Pulse_.

Lightning flicked the channel, unable to stomach the crap spewing from the ignorant woman's mouth; however, the report she had landed on was far more sickening.

_Yes that is correct_ said an elderly man clad in white clerical robes _There's no denying the enormity of the strain the Purge placed on us all_. _But given the tens of millions of lives at stake there truly was no alternative_ he said in mock sadness; Lightning eyed him angrily.

_Primarch Dysley stood by the move stressing the necessity for the relocation_ said a new male reporter as the elderly man's face shrank onto a miniature screen._ When asked about the possibility of future Purges the Primarch remained non-committal stating only that he would seek council with the Fal'Cie Eden and weigh all options before making a decision_.

"Yeah that's right," sighed Sazh disgustedly "If it makes the Sanctum look bad then it never even happed."

Lightning pressed another holographic button and continued to the Primarch's rant:

_In the many centuries since the War of Transgression_, _Cocoon has been spared Pulse aggression and prospered for it_. _It is essential that we maintain this peace_ that _is the Sanctum's Focus_. _We will continue employing every resource available to combat these threats to the harmony of our society_.

Lightning punched the mute button, unable to stomach anymore lies.

"Meaning we'll be running for the rest of our lives" sighed Sazh.

"Hey, who was that?" groaned Cloud from the back.

"Unbelievable, you worked for the government and his name never came up? He's Galenth Dysley, the Sanctum Primarch…murderer-in-chief".

"Just another tool of the Fal'Cie" said Lightning, trembling with anger; suddenly, an alarm started blaring all around them. The world erupted into roaring gunfire once again.

"Point's for perseverance" Sazh said sarcastically pulling the ship higher into blinding brilliance of the sun.

"Wow!" gasped Vanille as the light faded into clarity; before them was a large machine, floating in the sky, emanating a brilliant orange light.

"Here we go again,"

"Fly in" Lightning ordered "We'll lose them in there!"

Doing as instructed, Sazh flew into the light performing masterful flight maneuvers to avoid being it by the stray bolts of energy; Lightning was positive that she heard Cloud empty his stomach in the back.

"I like this Fal'Cie!" said Sazh as a pursuing aircraft erupted in flame from colliding with the light; there was a sickening '_Crack_' and the alarms began blaring as the ship began a stomach lurching dive.

"_Pull up_…PULL UP!"

"_It's not working_!" cried Sazh "EVERYONE, BUCKLE UP AND HOLD ON!"

Lightning snapped her harness across her lap and gripped the arm rest tightly as she could do nothing but watch as the ground got closer and closer. The airship collided with some rocks, sliding speedily until coming to a smashing halt and all was gone.

**(UPDATED) Okay guys I've got some bad news: due to my upcoming exams, I'm going to have to put off writing this for a time. I may not get back to it before my Christmas holidays but I'll do my best to get the next couple of chapters up before the end of the year. And yes, I do understand that "break your limits" was corny…Anyway, hope you guys liked this chapter and please don't forget to review.**


	6. Chapter 6 part 1

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

Lightning returned to consciousness with pain reverberating through her skull; she was laying face-down on solid rock, with the faint warmth of a flame caressing her skin and the pungent fumes of fuel leaking through the air. Pushing herself up onto all fours, and gingerly lifting her head, Lightning found Cloud sitting against a rock, his sword at the ready and blood trickling from a large gash above his eye.

"Good you're awake," he said with relief. Lightning nodded, aggravating her headache, and turned to find the others still unconscious.

"Hey" she said gently shaking Hope's shoulder sharply;

"Heads up!"

Lightning looked up quickly. Charging towards them, slipping and sliding across the rock, was a herd of Domesticated Peacekeepers; Cloud charged, knocking them all back with a hefty swipe of his mammoth blade. Lightning drew _Blazefire_ with a flick of her wrist and struck the first beast with a downward swing of her blade; she struck it again, reversing the swing upwardly, and it fell to the ground dead.

Acting on instinct, Lightning stepped with her right, dragging _Blazefire_ upwardly across, before launching backward (twisting into a masterful backflip) and burying several hot slugs into another domesticated peacekeeper. It too dropped like its comrade. Raising her gaze from the fallen monsters, she was in time to watch as the newly awakened kids annihilated a pair of monsters with orbs of heat and wind; she shifted her eyes to find Sazh, fully awake and flooring another pair with burps of fire from his pistols. Lightning sighed in relief as she placed _Blazefire_ back into his holster.

"Glad that's over," groaned Vanille victoriously as she and Sazh collapsed to the ground.

"Man I'm beat!" he panted but gasped exasperatedly as Lightning marched forward, "What, no break?"

"_They're tracking us_" Lightning explained impatiently, pausing for a moment and fighting her own exhaustion.

"I know that-_I know that_, but _we_ aren't soldiers!" said Sazh imploringly "We don't have your kind of stamina."

"You've got enough to complain!"

"Lightning slow down," said Cloud, his voice a mixture of pacifying and concerned "Let's collect our thoughts and think for a second-"

"-FINE!" Lightning snarled "YOU SIT ON YOUR ASS AND THINK, I'M GOING."

She left without another word, leaping over some of the debris; she moved in a brisk run. _Think Farron_,_ think_ she urged herself silently _what's your next move_? The question had plagued her since Hanging Edge; she had nothing left: her sister was gone and now she had this stupid brand on her chest which (to add insult to injury) made her an enemy of her home.

"_It's all that damn Fal'Cie's fault_" Lightning thought savagely breaking from her run; then it hit her, an idea that reenergized her entire being: why not take out the source of all of her troubles, the Fal'Cie in Eden. The sound of a tumbling rock and heavy panting reached her ears.

"Just you?" she inquired sharply, rather impressed that they had managed to keep up with her.

"Not quite," said a slow voice that caused Lightning to turn; standing in front of her was the boy, Hope, and Cloud.

"I didn't expect to see you," she said casually to Cloud though genuinely surprised to see him.

"Sazh and Vanille will be fine but I couldn't let the kid strike out on his own."

"Should we wait?" asked Hope examining the path they'd just come from.

"They'll catch up eventually" replied Cloud "For now, _we_ should keep going." He turned to Lightning, "Care to take point?"

Lightning nodded, turned on her heel, and led the duo forward. They walked in silence as they traversed the mountainous piles of rubble and debris; suddenly the trio came face-to-face with a gargantuan rock face, surrounding them on all sides.

"Dead end," gasped Hope who collapsed in exhaustion "Do you think we can get through this way? You—you know where you're going, right?"

Lightning rolled her eyes, the last thing she needed was some kid questioning her incessantly. "I've been here on missions before," she said ambiguously, dodging the question until she could gain her bearings.

"Missions? Nothing to do with the Purge, though?"

"The Purge is PSICOM's baby," Cloud explained patiently "Lightning and I were both Guardian Corps, and in no way affiliated with the Purge."

"Wait, but I don't get it" said Hope shifting on his seat "If you're not PSICOM then why were _you_ on the train?"

Lightning shifted her head uncomfortably, knowing full well that the question was directed at her "For Serah."

She went on to explain the incident in Bodhum; "I had to rescue Serah before they transported the Vestige to Pulse and out of my reach. My only chance to save her was to join the Purge."

"You're telling me, you got on that train so you could save your sister?" asked Hope his voice a mixture of incredulousness and impression, "That's crazy…I could never do something like that."

"It's not a question of _can_ or _can't_" said Lightning, doing her best to mimic Cloud's calm disposition "There are some things in life, you just do."

"Easy for someone like you to say," said the boy with a hint of bitterness. Unable to stomach the boy's pessimism anymore, Lightning launched herself upward and over the giant rock wall, barricading her way. Lightning pushed forward when she saw it: a Pulsian warship crashed, nose-first, into the ground. She forced herself past the history field trip; it was just another piece of garbage that made the outer rim of Cocoon and nothing more.

Climbing onto the largest rock she could find, Lightning looked on for a direction to follow. Crawling all over the ground were PSICOM and other native monsters; but up to the northeast, just beyond a rickety bridge was the Gapra Whitewoods, a science facility deep within a forest of shining trees and under Guardian Corps control. Lightning stared at it; her earlier plan swimming back to the front of her mind, getting through there would put her in the commercial city of Palumpolum and one airship-ride away from Eden. Her destination found, Lightning slid silently off of the rock and moved over to the nearest ledge when she paused: remembering that she no longer had her faithful manadrive she couldn't perform her usual method of transportation (via death defying leaps off of mindboggling heights). The sound of multiple, soft thuds of footfalls reached her ears.

"PSICOM" Lightning thought, quickly reaching for her _Blazefire Saber_. Peering over the edge of the rock wall, Lightning released her weapon as Cloud, Hope, Sazh and Vanille came marching up the metal walkway. Lightning leapt over the edge of the wall and landed gracefully before them.

"Hey, welcome to the party" said Sazh with a grin.

"You miss us?" asked Vanille with equal cheer. Lightning rolled her eyes with an annoyed huff and turned her back to them ("Would it kill her to smile?" she heard Sazh ask sarcastically).

"Lightning?" came Cloud as he caught up to Lightning's pace, "I understand your sense of urgency but you might want to reel it back. All you're going to do is burn them and yourself out-"

"-_You think I don't know that_?" Lightning snapped "Don't you think I'm trying to send them a message, if they want to live a little longer than they shouldn't travel with me!"

"What's gotten into you?" asked Cloud sharply "You're acting as if you're the only one suffering here."

"_What would you know about it_?"

"Don't I know, Lightning?" Cloud shouted, turning her sharply to face him, causing the trio behind them to gasp in surprise; "You are not the first one to be considered an enemy of their home…you are not the only one to think that you can do everything on your own, IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!"

Lightning stared at him, taken aback that her usually soft-spoken former Captain was shouting at her. He sighed deeply, "Look," he said calmly "These guys are going to need a leader who's calm and focused and right now that's not you!"

"_I don't want to be their leader_" said Lightning icily "The Fal'Cie took everything from me and now I'm going to return the favor!"

"So you're just going to give up?" snapped Cloud darkly; Lightning didn't answer choosing instead to keep pushing herself forward. Traipsing up the path, her boots crunching heavily on the debris of metal and rock, Lightning came to a meditative pause as she reached a large metal plate.

As the others caught up with her (Sazh and Hope panting heavily), Vanille asked "So what now?"

"All of you should rest for a moment," said Cloud shouldering his massive sword.

"Who died and made _you_ leader?" asked Lightning, still spiteful from their earlier discussion.

"Since the most suitable one to be a leader is being a real prat!" said Cloud coldly (Lightning crossed her arms, lips pursed in irritation) "I'm going to scout ahead, all of you rest," he said and lumbered away slowly.

"Wait!" called Vanille, surprising Lightning, "You're the one saying not to go off on our own, I'll back you up."

"You sure?" asked Cloud gently, allowing the red-haired girl a second to nod, "Then keep up."

As the two set off, Lightning hunkered down on a large gear-like piece of debris, taking several calming deep breaths and letting her tiredness crash over her. She chuckled: after all of this, she _was_ still only human.

"Some of the stuff we've seen, Pulse is crawling with stuff like that, isn't it?" Sazh mused aloud.

"You got me," replied Lightning tiredly "Not even the Corps had intel on Pulse, soldiers in the field fight blindly."

"Yeah, I noticed that" he replied sarcastically "But don't you need to know exactly what you're up against?"

"Target's a target" said Lightning evenly; the truth of the matter was: she agreed with him wholeheartedly, but spur of the moment required full attention at all times. It just showed how screwed up the government was: they didn't give a damn about the brave men and women who fought to protect them as long as they did so without question.

"You like to keep things simple, don't you?" asked Sazh with a mixture of impression and concern in his voice.

"I stick to my goal" she said reciting the tired line more to herself than in an answer to his question.

"As long as you have a goal, you can fight?" asked Hope curiously.

"You can stay alive" said Lightning continuing to recite her soldier's mantra.

A tumbling of rock caused them all to look up, as Vanille and Cloud returned.

"Everything's okay!" she cried cheerfully; Lightning turned to Cloud, who looked somber.

"Everything's _not_ okay," he said quietly.

"The north and west are crawling with PSICOM-" (Lightning grunted, obviously the way to go is going to be littered with enemies) "-so our best bet is head either south or east" said Cloud honestly.

Sazh sighed, "Not much of a future for us, huh?"

"Hard to picture a happy ending" Lightning concurred, as she watched Hope scratch his head awkwardly as Vanille laughed and danced around playfully.

"We don't even know where to go,"

"I do" said Lightning getting to her feet and feeling the powerful looks on her as Sazh and Cloud watched her curiously. Lightning turned her eyes skyward where the shining city sat placidly against the sea of sparkles on a night of black velvet.

"_Eden_?" cried Sazh incredulously "_The Sanctum's seat of power_?"

"Oh that's a great idea," said Cloud darkly "Just charge right in there and give them a taste of l'Cie terror!"

Lightning ignored Cloud's pessimism, not willing to let him shoot holes in the only plan she had.

"_You're serious_?" Sazh screeched horrified;

"Keep running—its die or turn Cie'th, there's no place for l'Cie to hide. No…they want to fight? Let's take it to the Sanctum's door!"

"This isn't a game!" snapped Cloud angrily,

"No…that's for damn sure!" she spat back "It started with Serah, the Fal'Cie took her now I'm a l'Cie too and the Sanctum's hunting me: An enemy of the state; but who's pulling _their_ strings?

"A Fal'Cie: Eden! Cocoon's sustainer and guiding light; _it probably ordered the Purge too_! Pulse and Sanctum Fal'Cie, they're all the same and we are all the same to them: expendable!" she spat disgustedly, getting the attention of Vanille and Hope "I am _not_ dying a Fal'Cie slave!" she shouted defiantly,

"So what are you going to do?" asked Sazh cautiously as if afraid that Lightning would blow up again.

"Destroy it" said Lightning with conviction drawing gasps from Sazh, Vanille and Hope.

"_By yourself_? What are you, crazy?"

"Say you pull it off," said Cloud "What's that get you: _satisfaction_?"

"Yeah" concurred Sazh "Something happens to Eden, it's lights out Cocoon!" Suddenly, a wave of horror crossed the pilot's face: "_You want that_?"

"You're a Pulse l'Cie now so you just want to snuff out Cocoon-"

"-No!" a voice shouted, surprising all of them as Vanille spoke up.

"What about Serah? She said to save Cocoon…it might even be our Focus to make sure Cocoon stays-"

"-OUR FOCUS DOESN'T MATTER!" Lightning roared, silencing the girl instantly.

"I…DON'T…TAKE…ORDERS…FROM…Fal'Cie!" said Lightning making every word hang in the tense night air "How I live: is up to me!"

"Don't you mean how you die?"

"Think like that and it's already over!" she shot hotly "It's better to pick your path and keep moving."

Lightning took a calming deep breath to allow a little comfort to escape her "Don't worry, I'm after the Sanctum, I'm not out to destroy the world! If it did come to that, I wonder if our _hero_ would try to stop me?" she added bitingly thinking of Snow.

"If he can't then I will" came a dark voice; Lightning turned quickly to find Cloud holding his sword at her chest.

"Why are you fighting me? Why are you trying to hold me back?"

"Because I've been there!" he said acidly, "I've been an enemy of my home before, I've almost let thoughts of revenge destroy me…" he trailed off; Lightning felt as though she'd swallowed a lemon. "I never want to see that happen to anyone, especially someone whose got so much to live for!"

Feeling numb, Lightning turned and left without another word; she was deeply thankful that Cloud understood her situation but she didn't need someone to pity her. She cast one last look at the four of them and then abandoned them (vaguely wondering if she would ever see them again and under what circumstances). She paused as a voice reached her ears:

"Wait for me" Lightning turned sharply to find Hope catching up to her. "I'm coming with you" he panted; Lightning felt her gaze harden.

"I can't babysit you anymore"

"I can fight, I'm not afraid!" the boy said bravely, sounding as though to convince himself more than Lightning. The two turned suddenly as a large group of armored PSICOM troops charged up the hill.

"Oh great, a PSICOM hit squad" said Lightning sarcastically. Drawing _Blazefire_, Lightning charged, burying several inches of biting steel deeply into armored flesh. However, a dull sharp pain erupted between her shoulders as something hit her; colliding with the hard ground, Lightning reached for her chest, she shot out her arm to cast another Thunder spell, only nothing happened.

She tried once more but accomplished nothing a stinging pain that surged throughout her body; the world trembled violently and Lightning screamed as she was thrown back to the ground. Looking back, she could see were the pass they'd come from erupted into an earsplitting flame. Looking around for the cause, Lightning found a soldier clad in cream and blood-red armor, holding a detonator mashed between his hand and thumb. Lightning felt the blood drain from her face: the soldier wasn't PSICOM at all, _he was Guardian Corps_. As the Corpsman raised his rifle, he was thrown forward by the force of a fireball cast by Lightning's silver-haired accomplice; acting on instinct, Lightning thrust forward her blade and impaled the soldier's chest.

Pulling _Blazefire_ out of his chest, and dropping the corps soldier dropped like a sack of rocks, Lightning shifted her weapon into gun-mode, and blasted the remaining black-armored PSICOM troops with a felling shot to the neck. Placing her weapon back into its holster, Lightning turned back to the corpse of the Corpsman; things were quickly escalating from bad-to-worse if the Guardian Corps was involved in the reparations of a PSICOM screw-up.

"Not bad"

"Really?" asked Hope, rather surprised "Thanks."

Lightning turned back to the pass, which was now blocked by fire and rubble; if Sazh, Vanille and Cloud intended to follow them, it would be impossible to do so now. Lightning felt sad immediately, despite their squabbling, she could really have used Cloud's advice and company.

"There will be more soldiers, we should keep moving" said Hope mimicking Lightning's soldier-esque attitude.

"Hey Lightning?" he asked beginning to sound more like himself again "Are you worried about the others? I'm sure they got away okay-"

"-So can you, if you leave now!" said Lightning warningly "With me it'll be fight after fight, I don't know how it'll end."

"I know that" said Hope "But I need to be stronger." The boy fell silent for a moment before continuing "Lightning-call me Light" she interjected impatiently.

"Light," he said concurringly "So what's the plan from here?"

Lightning quickly filled him in on her plan to cut through the Gapra Whitewood and hitch a ride to Eden, via Palumpolum.

"I live in Palumpolum," said Hope as the light bulbs flickered on "I can show you all of the shortcuts." Lightning grinned as the kids usefulness quickly enlarged itself. "Hey Lightning, did you notice that it was harder to use magic this time?" asked Hope as he looked down at his hands, like he'd never seen them before.

"Yeah," she replied calmly, throwing out her arm and achieving nothing but the uncomfortable stinging sensation. "I don't get it, we could use magic freely back at Lake Bresha, but now it's like my magic is segregated…different."

Suddenly, a look of realization crashed over the boy. "Hey, remember how Cloud said that the body is a temple of strength?" he asked.

Lightning nodded, "Yeah, physical and mental, why do you ask?"

"Well what if there are different kinds of mental and physical strengths" Hope proposed ingeniously.

"What do you mean?"

"You said yourself, your magic feels different, what if they _are_ different?" asked Hope epiphanically "Hear me out: if there was a way to redirect the flow of strength then maybe all of our powers could be open to us again."

"It's worth a shot" said Lightning with a shrug "How do we redirect the flow?"

"No idea," replied Hope sounding rather deflated.

"Right" said Lightning dryly, turning around, "Stay close"

The duo set off down the trail, both deathly silent as they snuck past PSICOM. As they maneuvered down a hill, Lightning raised a hand to stop her comrade; she drew _Blazefire_ in gun-mode before throwing herself out from behind a large rock only to find something she truly wasn't expecting. Sitting amongst a pile of unconscious soldiers, his sword casually resting on his shoulder was Cloud.

"I don't believe it," said Lightning incredibly replacing _Blazefire_ in his holster "How did _you_ get here?" she asked.

"Can't keep a country boy down" replied Cloud patiently "Plus, I couldn't go with Sazh and Vanille mainly because I couldn't let you do something _this_ magnitude of stupid."

Lightning crossed her arms furiously "Stop treating me like a child!"

"Stop acting like one!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH YOU TWO!" roared Hope, causing both former soldiers to look at him with looks of surprise. "Look, we're going to be together until whenever this ride ends, so it would be beneficial if you _stopped_ antagonizing each other!"

Lightning exchanged a look with Cloud (Hope, looking equally thunderstruck at his outburst, quickly shifted his gaze downward).

"The kid's got a point," said Cloud, to which Lightning nodded in agreement.

"So what happened here?"

"That tracker team you guys took out, they were throwing out their signal so that _this_ team would have been waiting for you" replied Cloud calmly "You guys were walking straight into a PSICOM trap."

"There's also something you should know," said Lightning seriously "PSICOM forces here aren't alone; we've already encountered Guardian Corps soldiers."

Cloud grunted sarcastically; "Well won't this be fun?"

"Hey, what's this thing?" called Hope drawing their attention; what the boy had found was a large, dangerous looking machine that lay inactive on the ground.

"I don't know," said Cloud "These PSICOM troops were guarding it when I found them."

"Makes sense," said Lightning pensively "They're _Pulse_ l'Cie so maybe they'll try and use _Pulsian_ technology. Probably thought we'd try and use, whatever _this_ is, to try and escape."

"Maybe we should try it," said Hope beginning to tinker with the giant machine.

"Hey, you're going to hurt yourself, don't touch that!"

"But what if it works?" he called, climbing on top of it.

"Leave it!" she called back, not wanting to imagine what would happen if it worked. The boy screamed out loud, Cloud and Lightning each reached for their weapons as the machine shuddered violently and began to move.

"W-wait, I think I got it!" Hope called, as the robot wiggled enthusiastically when the boy messed with the mechanics, moving the robot forward "Cloud, Light, I think I can work this."

Hope yelled as the massive machine began to move faster than its size let on; Lightning and Cloud quickly leapt out of the way as it barreled towards them. There was a thunderous crack, and a long metal spire promptly fell over with a deafening thud; bouncing backward from the collision, the robot straightened up and charged forward once again.

"Where the hell is he going?!" Lightning shrieked as she and Cloud took off running after their young comrade. Dashing down the ravine, following the large dents in the rock and the distant shouts from their friend, Lightning and Cloud quickly observed the scenes of toppled bridges and many crushed Pulse robots.

"Maybe it's a good thing he got that thing working" Cloud laughed as they passed a particularly open and violent crevice where once dangerous enemies once stood, were now pushed harmlessly into the dirt, little more than flattened frames.

Continuing onward, the duo finally caught up with the machine; however, the machine took too heavily of a sharp turn, the ground underneath it gave way and it and Hope toppled over the edge. Lightning's stomach took a deep dive as the deafening crash rumbled from beyond the cliff.

"HOPE!" Cloud roared and the duo kicked into overdrive. As they reached the cliff, both of them laughed in relief; the cliff, as it turned out, wasn't that high and Hope was sprawled spread eagle on the ground, winded, but nonetheless fine.

"Nice landing" Lightning teased sternly, as she leapt of the rock face and landed gracefully next to him.

"Well, it was a good idea" said Cloud, who had taken the less direct way down and was now helping Hope to his feet "But if there was any PSICOM around, they would definitely have heard that. Let's keep moving."

Lightning nodded in agreement

"Hold on, I'm still a bit winded" Hope moaned, massaging his ribs. Lightning's good humor suddenly drained from her.

"You're too soft"

"Knock it off you two," Cloud barked; Lightning crossed her arms, this was exactly why she didn't want Hope to tag along.

"Alright, let's go" Cloud said after giving Hope a moment to catch his breath. Lightning followed as Cloud took point and she could hear Hope panting as he tried to keep up. The long trail that Cloud led them down came to an abrupt end as they were faced with yet another metal bridge. She and Cloud easily began the long traipse, ignoring the tantalizing breeze, the rush of the nearby waterfall and the overpowering urge to look down. Making it across to the other side without incident, the two soldiers paused as they awaited their companion.

"This isn't working," Lightning huffed as Hope stumbled off of the bridge and tripped onto the ground at her feet.

"Give him a little credit" said Cloud pacifyingly "He's doing rather well for a civilian."

"_I mean_: he's a liability and he's only going to slow us down" Lightning persisted darkly;

"What!"

"What are you saying?" asked Cloud intensely.

"I'm sorry, but it would be easier if we didn't have to worry about-ARGH!" she grunted as a sudden, extreme pain burst in her chest. Lightning shot a hand over pain in her brand only to find a pale pink light begin to shine through her fingers.

"Lightning, we're not leaving a kid in a place like this!"

"Yeah, you've got to take me with you-"

"-Enough" Lightning cut Hope off "The whole world is against us and I can barely keep myself alive, let alone some helpless kid!" Lightning collapsed onto one knee as the pain escalated to a white-hot intensity.

"Lightning?" came Cloud's voice as he knelt next to her, his eyes brimming with concern.

"You want to get tough?" she questioned Hope harshly "THEN DO IT ON YOUR OWN!" She let every harsh word lash out at the boy; why did he expect special treatment from her? Nobody was around to toughen Lightning up, so why should she care about some punk?

As she thought the thoughts, the pain became overwhelming and she became lost in a brilliant pink light that erupted beneath her feet. Regaining enough of her senses, Lightning threw herself forward, and was in time to witness as a gargantuan, pale-skinned warrior in golden armor rose from the pink light. Lightning moved her lead-like arms towards her weapon

"This cannot be happening" she thought as the warrior raised its S-shaped sword ominously above Cloud and Hope.

There was a roaring ring of steel as the warrior's sword collided with Cloud's; the two grappled for a moment before the pale warrior slashed widely, throwing Cloud backward. Lightning watched as her former Captain skidded to a halt and then launch himself upward, clashing their blades violently. However, the pale-warrior twirled his sword rapidly and flung the spikey-haired man into the face of the rock wall of the path. There was a sickening crack and Cloud dropped to the ground stone still.

"CLOUD!" Lightning and Hope shouted, attempting to stir him, but he didn't move. Drawing _Blazefire_ and rocketing to her feet, Lightning lunged at the golden-armored warrior, only to have her sword parried masterfully.

Lightning, staring down her foe angrily, flourished her blade to ready for the next round, when suddenly she was enveloped by a trio of bright blue rings and the uncomfortable blockage in her body disappeared. Quickly snapping back to attention back to the fight, she was in time to parry the warrior's fast attack; absentmindedly throwing out her arm, Lightning bombarded her foe with a hail of thunderbolts.

The warrior recoiled from the attack, staring at Lightning with its usual blank stare and raised its massive shield before marching towards her. Lifting her blade into a defensive position, she paced around the monstrous warrior; there was a bright purple-flash in the corner of her eye, Lightning turned in time to watch her young companion become cloaked by similar violet rings. Averting her eyes back the fight, she was quick enough to catch the pale-warrior's S-shaped blade before it cut her head off but the force behind the attack slammed her to the ground.

Coming back to her senses as quickly as she could, Lightning swiftly drew her sword back into a defensive position as the warrior's sword came crashing down on top of her. CRASH! The golden blade resounded loudly; above Lightning was a transparent wall that shielded her from the deadly edge of the blade. She looked over quickly to find Hope wave his arm and a similar shield ensconce him. Turning back towards her foe, Lightning took hold of _Blazefire's_ leathery handle, thinking hard: _I need to use my sword_; shining in three bright rings, she thrust the tip of her sword upward, catching the warrior in the armpit and launching him backward.

Rocketing back to her feet, her world burst into a painful hell far worse than any attack she'd endured before as the warrior's golden blade ripped open her side. Blood spit out like a geyser. The attack threw Lightning backward and slamming her back into the rock wall; she breathed a sigh of relief as Hope drew the warrior's attention with his magic. She touched her side gingerly, only to gain a powerful stinging sensation and the feel of warm, sticky blood oozing through her fingers.

Thoughts of her medical pouch popped into her mind's eye; she had to reach her supply of potions and seal the wound before she lost too much blood. Out of nowhere, a bright flash of three green rings wrapped around her body and disappeared as quickly as they'd come. Lightning stood transfixed thinking all the while: red was attack and blue was attack magic, _but what the hell was green magic_? With no time and taking a leap of faith, Lightning gathered her magical strength into her l'Cie brand and released the energy with a tired wave. She was hugged by a gentle, tickling sensation and a warm aura of white light; Lightning watched in amazement as the stinging in her side subsided as did the massive cut. Lightning looked back at the warrior with renewed confidence; she had attack, attack magic and healing magic on her side.

"ATTACK!" Lightning roared to Hope, engulfing herself in red rings whilst the boy glowed blue. They struck simultaneously with a combination of fire and sword. The Warrior leapt from the center of danger and shone down upon them a bright white light; Lightning shielded her eyes until the, now, distant pain in her chest reduced to being so bodily numb so quickly that the pink-haired soldier collapsed.

"Lightning!" Hope cried, running over to her, "Are you okay?"

Lightning gulped down several deep breaths but nodded.

Suddenly, the silver-haired boy gasped, "Oh, Cloud!"

The realization crashed over Lightning as well; ignoring the numbing sensation that made her head uncomfortably light, the two made their way over to their, still unconscious, friend. "Hey! Get up!" said Lightning shaking his shoulder roughly, but still he did not stir. Lightning flipped open her medical pouch, fumbled around blindly and pulled out the familiar emerald bottle; pulling out the stopper with her teeth, she pried open Cloud's mouth and dumped in the potion in. The spikey-haired man's eyelids flew open and he coughed and sputtered wildly.

"Calm down," said Lightning soothingly placing a hand on his shoulder "You just got a bump on the head."

Cloud took several deep breaths before pushing himself upwards, gingerly holding his head "More like it got run over by a train" he said sarcastically "What the hell was that thing anyway?"

"I…I think it was an Eidolon," said Hope, quietly staring down at his brand "Like l'Cie can summon."

Cloud actually laughed, though he winced and grabbed his head again, "I should have known. Summons, they hit like trucks when they're wild but dead useful once you master them."

Lightning sighed as she handed Cloud back his sword, "Magic and mumbo-jumbo, I must have hit my head on that Purge train."

"Um…" Hope piped up, turned towards Lightning but staring at his shoes, "…am I really in your way?"

The group's light-hearted moment quickly melted, once again, into that awkward moment of silence. Lightning averted her own gaze downward, feeling ashamed at her earlier behavior; putting away _Blazefire_ Lightning continued onward.

"I'll do better!" Hope shouted quickly from behind "I'll try harder, I'll-"

"-Hope!" Lightning cut him off, instantly silencing him. This was it, the moment of truth. Lightning did not want to endanger the boy any more than she already had, but he_ had_ proven himself a competent warrior and she knew, deep down, that it would be wrong to just strand him in the middle of nowhere. She sighed to herself, resigned, before saying aloud: "We'll toughen you up."

She took two steps forward before stopping and admitting privately _you do owe him one_; she turned her head and said "I'm sorry about before."

Lightning grinned to herself, feeling the palpable surprise of her two comrades. "Hurry up you two," she barked loudly and stifled a laugh at a sudden scrambling sound and then the clomp of hurrying feet. They walked in silence for a long time; Lightning did not allow her surprise of the lack of PSICOM or Guardian Corps to show through her composed look but couldn't shake the feeling. A sudden whir of machinery rang subtly through the night; the trio turned quickly.

Attempting to ambush them from behind was a pair of amazingly bulking, yet incredibly stealthy PSICOM mechs. Lightning instinctively whipped out her sword.

"Got my back?" she roared back to Cloud and Hope. Both responded with a simple but firm "Yeah."

"ATTACK!" she roared, more to Hope than Cloud, feeling the power of the fiery red rings that surrounded her. She and Cloud struck the first robot with their swords but quickly jumped back to avoid collateral damage done by a stray ball of fire.

"Hope, what are you doing, I said 'Attack' not 'Magic'!" Lightning shouted towards the boy, who shrugged innocently.

"What do you want from me? I don't have _that_ kind of power!"

"Fine then" Lightning sighed vehemently as Cloud rushed back into the fight 'MAGIC'." The rings of deepest blue engulfed her once more.

"Which magic?" cried Hope exasperatedly "I've got three of them!"

"_NOT YOU_!" Lightning bellowed, slapping a hand to her forehead; their situation was going nowhere fast.

"OOF!" Cloud gasped as he crashed onto his back before Hope's feet.

"You okay?" asked Hope, shifting into the trio of green rings, ready to hail Cloud with healing magic.

"I'm fine" he huffed, pushing to his feet "But in honesty, this battle is quickly going to hell."

Lightning returned her focus to the battle at hand, witnessing the robots hover serenely, however menacingly, towards them.

"Listen you two, we can't take these guys on our own" said Cloud stoically; Lightning didn't bother hiding her surprise when he turned to face her. "We need help."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Lightning snapped, tightening her grip on _Blazefire's_ handle. 

Cloud replied simply but with conviction "Call your Eidolon."

Lightning stared at him as if he'd just asked her to defeat the enemies by dancing provocatively.

"That might be a good idea," started Lightning as the sudden thought crossed her mind "But I don't have a clue how it did it the first time!"

"You've got to try!" said Cloud methodically "If you bested your Eidolon in combat, it should be yours to call at will." Lightning listened to his words and without even the remotest clue of what she was going to do; she placed a hand over her heart and thought as hard as she could:

"I am your master and I need your help."

Suddenly, something light but very sturdy materialized in her hand; Lightning opened her eyes and looked down. To her complete surprise, there was a crystalline rosebud sitting placidly within the palm of her hand.

_RELEASE ME_ came a sudden voice in her ear, startling Lightning and causing her to drop the crystal; with the machines still ominously approaching, and relying on instinct, she drove her sword upward and sliced through the rosebud with the '_tinkle_' of breaking glass. A light brighter than any thought possible burst forth from the little crystal (Lightning turned away to keep from temporary blindness).

As the light began to fade, Lightning glanced with her peripheral vision to find the familiar pale-skinned warrior emerge; however, he began to do something that Lightning found both shocking and very, very stranger. He began contorting into angles Lightning wouldn't have thought possible until, with an echoing whinny, the pale-warrior had transformed into golden armored horse. Raising its neck, the horse galloped gracefully towards the pink-haired soldier.

_Greetings master_ said a soft voice in Lightning's ear, causing her to look thunderstruck towards the horse, _I am Odin_. There was a loud '_shink_' of metal on earth as the warrior's S-shaped sword lodged itself deep into the ground; _Take up my sword and gain my power_ the voice urged gently.

"On second thought, I'll pass" said Lightning quickly, distrusting the possessed horse.

_Now is not the time to be afraid master_ said the horse patiently _Right now_, _these are enemies you are not yet strong enough to defeat and until you are, you will require my power_.

Lightning let out a frustrated hiss, greatly annoyed that the horse was making sense.

"Fine then, Odin was it?" she submitted aggravatedly, taking the heavy S-shaped sword and launching onto the horses back, and splitting the great sword into two, heavily serrated, blades "LET'S RIDE!"

_Follow my lead master_ said Odin calmly, turning to face the two robots (who were still hovering placidly towards the new enemy). Galloping up to the first of the duo and then twisting suddenly, the Eidolon bellowed

_UNLEASH THE STORM_. Pushing her knees into the horse's ribs to keep from falling, Lightning used the momentum of the spin into two powerful upward slashes, scraping steel violently against the metallic shell. Trotting up to the second, the Eidolon horse pushed up onto its hind legs and let out a menacing whinny.

_RAIN DOWN MY FURY_ his voice roared. Following his lead, Lightning crossed the curved blades in front of her chest. As Odin returned his forelegs to the ground, bucking out his rear ones in the process, Lightning struck in an X-formation and, at the same time, brought down a flurry of furious thunderbolts. The armor around the mech cackled with electricity as the bolts collided mercilessly. Connecting the golden blades in the S-shaped sword, Lightning dug in her knees to keep on the bucking horse, as he cried:

_BURST FORTH MALEVOLENT WINDS_! Twirling the sword like a baton, Lightning released a violent scythe of wind. The robots buckled slightly as the powerful gusts slashed through their already tattered armor. Lightning felt the unnerving lurch of leaving behind her stomach as Odin leapt high into the air. Whirling the two golden swords around her body, Lightning sniped the machines with precise bolts of electricity as Odin called from below:

_FEEL OUR THUNDEROUS WRATH_!

As they touched back down, Odin made a startling shift from his war cry to the initial gentle tone,_ You have done well my lady_, _but now is not the time to let down your guard_.

Lightning stared disbelievingly as the battered machines continued, however clumsily, towards them. She gripped the swords tightly

"This is insane! We hit them with all of your power and they _still_ won't go down!"

_But my lady_ said Odin pacifyingly _That was only a curtain raiser_, _now we shall unleash my true power_! Lightning stared down at the horse with a mixture of impression and horror, if what she'd already done wasn't her Eidolon's full power; she shuddered to think what was.

_Evil ones beware the coming storm_… hissed Odin, charging forward; Lightning instinctively pushed into a crouched position. …_For none have survived the fury of the Zantetsuken_. Odin thrust his head upward, launching both robots into the air, and then bucked his rear parts pushing his mistress in between the pair of machines. Lightning curled the swords around her neck and bellowed at the top of her lungs

"THE STORM IS HERE!"

Throwing out her left arm, she pulled into a spin, holding each blade at arms-length like a deadly bladed twister. As her spin slowed, Lightning landed as gracefully as a dizzy person could, and listened as the slices of the machines fell to the earth with resounding rings. Merging the dual swords into the S-shaped blade with a 'click' Lightning pushed to her feet (albeit clumsily) and held out the blade for the horse to take.

_Well done_ Odin congratulated, taking the sword in his teeth and then said with a bend of his front legs _Until next time master_.

A familiar brilliant light burst from the horse (causing Lightning to throw a hand in front of her face); as the radiance faded once again, Lightning felt the light sturdiness of the rose crystal return to her hand. Lightning stared at the crystal intently, studying into its intricate design, allowing her mind to flood the mesmerizing design with all of her experiences and knowledge. Reveling in a sudden feeling of power that coursed throughout her body, Lightning stared down at the crystal and whispered "Thank you".

A firm hand gripped her shoulder, causing Lightning to jump and reach for Blazefire, only to find Cloud and Hope.

"Well done"

"Well done?" asked Hope as though it were the understatement of the year "Light, _that was amazing_!"

"You weren't too bad yourself kid" Lightning complimented, then added dryly as an after though "But we need a better system of phonetics in battle."

"Phonetics?" Hope wheezed tiredly "Is that like codenames?" Lightning nodded in response, watching as the boy doubled over, panting.

"Let's stop here, for now" suggested Cloud.

"No," Hope gasped "Don't stop on my account."

"No, he's right" said Lightning, still clutching _Blazefire_ tightly, "We should rest and regain our strength."

"Sorry," said Hope, though he did not look at all sorry when he collapsed onto the ground.

"Don't sweat it,"

"I'm going to look around, you two rest up" she said quickly, and then made off without another word or objection from the others. Lightning set off down the path and then up onto a mountainous boulder, giving her a fantastic scouting point; off to the south-west, gleaming brightly in the darkness, was the Gapra Whitewoods. Lightning let out a sigh of relief, they were not far from their destination and all of PSICOM appeared to be heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly, an overpowering feeling of guiltiness washed over her as she thought of Sazh and Vanille who were heading in that particular direction.

"NO" Lightning scolded herself mentally "You can't let your emotions distract you. They made their choice and you have your mission, so focus!"

Lightning took a deep breath, and released gently, there was no point getting upset about a distraction. Leaping off of the boulder and moving back to their campsite, Lightning found Cloud and Hope leaning against another particularly large rock. Cloud looked up at her and placed a finger over his lips, then pointed to his right. Lightning looked around him and found Hope, breathing softly, fast asleep.

Cloud stood and whispered "Well?"

"Our path to the Whitewoods is clear, PSICOM is moving the other way, and, if we keep a good pace, we should be in Palumpolum by the end of tomorrow."

"Lightning…Cloud, just call me Light" she interrupted with a low, impatient hiss.

"Light" Cloud conceded "Are you sure that you want to go through with this?" Lightning nodded with conviction.

The two stared each other down hard, before Cloud finally relented with a nod. "Then go get some sleep, I'll take the first watch" he said gently, taking up his sword and moving past her.

Lightning settled down with her back to a rock and Blazefire nestled comfortable by her side; she watched as Cloud slid to the ground, the tip of his sword buried in the earth and handle resting against his shoulder and as Hope fidgeted in his sleep.

"Mom?" the boy called softly before curling up and falling farther into his slumber.

Lightning stared at him pitifully, but managed with soft sarcasm "Not by a long shot"

Turning to Cloud, watching with fascination as the night breeze played with his spikey locks and admiring his figure, silhouetted against the moon light, a feeling that hadn't occurred to her in many years washed over her: contentment and safety. Smiling gently, the fatigue of the day's journey overtook her and before long, Lightning nodded off to sleep.

**(UPDATED) Yes here is another twist to this story: the parted chapters; fair warning, some of these are going to get really long so I'm breaking them up into parts. Anyway, I apologize for taking so long to get these two up, but I kept having computer problems have prevented me from working on it much. Now please enjoy part 2. Oh, and don't forget to review please, thank you ;-)**


	7. Chapter 6 part 2

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

The Gapra Whitewoods: an astonishing science facility where the repulsive fusion of biology and technology manifested into a forest of crystalline machinery. Cloud shivered with disgust as he was instantly reminded of the mad Hojo, who would have had a field day were he, god forbid, still alive.

"Can't believe we made it" Hope sighed with relief he and Cloud knelt down next to Lightning, upon a very stealthy entry into the facility.

The journey out of the Vile Peaks was both short and uneventful; a fact that Cloud was very grateful of, though he did not portray these feelings to either of his companions. However, now was the time to become as focused as he could manage. Deciding to embark on Lightning's, relatively, suicidal mission, meant that danger lurked around every corner and he could not permit his mind to become distracted. He had plenty of time to retrain his mind as the trio had spent the last hour inching out of the mountains and into the gleaming forest.

They turned and watched as the main gates shut with a slam; "That'll slow down pursuit" said Lightning, priming her weapon for an inevitable attack. Cloud looked around in amazement; even the forests of the Forgotten Capital back on Gaia paled in comparison to this place.

"We press on" said Lightning, snapping Cloud back to attention, "I'll take point, Cloud you watch our backs."

"Right," he said, taking hold of the fused _Ascalon_ and _Avenger_ but was stopped by something that both surprised and impressed him. Hope walked forward and said "Actually, why don't you let me take point."

"Can you handle it?" asked Cloud supportively, noting how unsure the boy sounded; Hope turned to him "It's not a question of can or can't" he said determinedly.

Cloud exchanged prideful grins with Lightning; "Now you're learning" she said, her tone approving.

"Keep your eyes front," Cloud advised as the boy turned to lead the way "Me and Light will watch the rear."

"Got it" replied Hope in tone that matched Lightning's hardness before taking off.

"Amazing," Lightning mused to Cloud "How much he's grown in so little amount of time."

Cloud hid a grin from her, noting that she'd come just as far. Tightening his grip on his swords, Cloud and Lightning followed after their young comrade. "Notice anything wrong Hope?" Cloud piped up quickly, causing both of them to turn their heads slightly; he watched the silver-haired boy look around in confusion before the realization crashed over him like a blast of cold air.

"It's too quiet" he commented, turning sharply to Lightning, the boy asked "This is a Guardian Corps facility, right? Then where are all the guards?" Lightning shrugged.

"Stay sharp," Cloud advised and snapping Hope's gaze back to the front "We can't rule out the possibility of an ambush."

"Right" The boy said mimicking Lightning with a nod of concurrence and then continued on. He led them in silence for several minutes before asking in a voice so low that it was nearly a whisper, "Have either of you been here before? On duty I mean."

Cloud listened vaguely, after a shake of his head, as Lightning explained how the facility was protected by some-odd Guardian Corps battalion. What was he thinking? Taking a pause from running from his own cowardice to aid two fugitives trying to take down their national government. Normally, he would have parted with them at Lake Bresha and let life take its course but instead: he was tagging along on a suicide mission! However he couldn't really complain, after all, he had only come to Cocoon looking for a merciful death so why not go out doing something useful.

He shifted his gaze back over to his comrades and was in time to watch Lightning extended her arm and offer something to Hope; Cloud observed a bronze combat knife within her hand. "To keep you safe," she said simply. Cloud watched interestedly as he took the weapon and flipped open a curved, steely blade; "I'll want it back" she said, half coldly, half warningly.

"Lightning," Hope blurted, gripping the knife tightly "I'm glad I followed you…you as well, Cloud" he added as an afterthought. "By myself, I would've had no chance."

The spikey-haired, former, soldier nodded with a grunt (though he did make a note to tell the kid not to waste his time on a sappy thank you). They continued onward (Hope still in the lead), moving down a conveniently place gravity-elevator and across an open field. What happened next, happened all too fast.

Cloud's chest erupted into a blinding pain; Cloud shot a hand over his chest and collapsed onto one knee. His body convulsed with a pulsating pain, and a voice reached to his ear: _Stop running_, _submit to me_. Cloud shook his head but was stopped by another painful pulse; _Why do you keep running_? _I offer you an escape and yet you still refuse_. As he collapsed to the ground, a faraway voice bellowed something about needing to hide, and before all consciousness vanished the silkily evil voice came once more: _It is only a matter of time_…_you __**will**__ set me free_.

Cloud came to with a shuddering jolt; his eyes shifting around like mad. He was in some alien mass of shrubbery, collapsed onto a shoulder with a dull pain pulsing throughout his body. Finally, his eyes finally came to a rest on Hope and Light; both of them had their backs to him and their gazes were fixated above them. Nervously looking up, Cloud, forgetting the present situation, quietly sighed in relief at three PSICOM patrol bikes that were circling overhead like vultures. Quickly regaining his composure, Cloud joined his comrades in a tense silence before the circling trio dispersed in opposite directions.

The three of them in took nervous breaths as they circled overhead like vultures before continuing onward. Cloud sighed in relief, pushing back to his feet and moving out of the brush.

"They don't seem like they're even looking for us," gasped Hope disbelievingly, stepping out of the brush to watch their fading trails of exhaust "I mean, we're l'Cie _and_ we're on the loose." As Lightning explained to Hope about PSICOM's "pride" Cloud released another silent sigh at a very positive revelation: neither one of them had noticed his episode. They continued onward, his comrades continuing their discussion on what to do next; Cloud didn't speak a word to either of them, inwardly sighing in shame as many of his former, secretive, habits were beginning to return.

Cloud turned his attention straight, just as they reached a large door, electrical cords all over the face like veins. "Anybody got a bright idea?" asked Hope, interrupting Lightning's very rude, sarcastic swear.

His body acting of its own accord, Cloud found himself knelt down before the giant door, picking apart the side panel and then tinkering with the wiring. "Since when are you a technical genius?" inquired Lightning incredulously.

"I have a friend back on Gaia, _a real rocket scientist_, he taught me a couple of tricks" replied Cloud blandly. The fact of the matter was: Cid had taught him a few things but most of it flew over his head; however, what little he had retained from Cid's mechanic lessons _had_ come in handy with the Fenrir and (with similar mechanics to the bike) he was their best chance of getting through.

"I wonder how the others are doing?" Hope mused to himself, rather loudly, drawing the attention of his comrades.

"Sazh and Vanille?" Lightning inquired patiently; Cloud made no change to his naturally solemn look or in his body language, but inwardly felt a pang of guilt. He had abandoned them just to stop Lightning! True they had proven themselves capable fighters, but even Cloud doubted that Sazh could protect himself and Vanille with two pistols and limited ammo.

"Who knows" said Lightning as she paced walkway, "Even if they got away, they'll get caught eventually; and then they'll have to choose: resist or surrender." Cloud's hand paused and his shoulders stiffened as his guilt worsened.

"Surrender?" Hope said quietly, though the sadness in his voice was apparent. "Do you think _he's_ still alive?" he came again with a newfound hardness.

"You mean Snow?" asked Lightning calmly, exchanging surprised looks with Cloud. She tsk'd and continued in her own harsh voice "He's too stubborn to die…_and that's his best quality_! He's arrogant and chummy from the get-go and thinks he's everyone's pal. Never liked him much.

"He leads around a bunch of kids-gang called 'NORA'." Cloud listened intently; Snow never struck him as arrogant, however, he did agree that it was rather annoying at first that Snow automatically called himself: Cloud's friend.

"Where'd they get the name 'Nora'?" Hope inquired with the same harshness in his voice; "It's a stupid acronym" said Lightning coldly "Their little _code_. Stands for 'No Obligations, Rules or Authority'…must be nice."

Cloud, having enlisted the help of _Merciless_, quickly severed a bright teal cord and then quickly attached it to a deep scarlet one. There was a loud crackle of electricity and the mammoth door slid open; as he pushed himself up (replacing _Merciless_ in his harness) Cloud heard "It's irresponsible!"

He turned to find Hope walking briskly past him with his gaze downward; Cloud stared at him, concern and shock dominated his face. The boy's tone was different from before…it was cold and vindictive. As he and Lightning followed the silver-haired young man, Cloud pondered as to what the boy could hate _this_ much.

As he thought these things, he'd absentmindedly become aware of the new section of the facility that they were passing over. Below the walkway, was an endless field of containment pens; within them, were an assortment of snarling creatures that bared their fangs ominously at them. "What are they?" asked Hope peering over the edge; looking down over the edge and catching the eye of a particularly violent Behemoth, Cloud did not want to know.

"There are a lot of feral creatures here, too and they're a little different from the military breeds" Lightning explained "This is an army facility for turning wildlife into weapons."

Cloud suddenly felt nauseous as he suddenly thought of his former, bestial, companion; "Civilians aren't allowed in here, are they?" Hope inquired rather densely.

Lightning answered calmly, but looked as though she were having difficulty stifling a sarcastic remark, "We'll have to be sure and tell them if we see any."

Cloud's mask of solemnity cracked slightly as he forced himself to stifle a laugh. Suddenly the walkway shuttered violently; the spikey-haired warrior shifted his orbs of Mako blue downward to find the nastily-tempered Behemoth ramming the support columns. It rammed again and with a sickening crack, the column gave way and the bridge collapsed, dumping all three of them into the pen below. The world went topsy-turvy for Cloud, though his experience kicked in and he pulled his weight forward and rolled into it before fluidly pushing back to his feet a hand on his hefty blade.

However, Lightning and Hope had also managed to their feet and charged past him and Lightning bellowed: "ARCHMAGE!" Cloud watched as his comrades burned in cloaks of brilliant, colored, fire (Lightning into a deep blue and Hope into a vibrant purple). He smiled to himself as he watched them begin to tackle the angry monster; he'd watched their rather disastrous start become an impressive lesson of patience and skill.

"SLASH AND BURN!" Lightning roared, causing her and Hope to blaze into new powers (Lightning turned from dark blue to a bloody red and Hope switched from purple to Lightning's former blue).

Cloud felt bad, simply standing on the side and observing them fight, but it really wasn't worth getting involved with.

With time, he'd shown them how to stay alive with their new found abilities: Lightning having mastered the basics of elemental magic and art of transferring magic to her blade. Hope, on the other hand, had already become so proficient of a sorcerer that he had already mastered –ra level magic. Cloud watched as the monstrous creature roared vehemently, when he sighed deeply; taking hold of his sword, he charged forward and, heaving with all of his strength, slammed it downward, pummeling the Behemoth's armored head into the ground. It twitched once and then became still in unconsciousness; giving his sword a theatrical twirl, Cloud replaced it on his back without a word.

A sudden, sharp, whir cut through the air; Lightning swore, "We've tripped the security alarm, the Observation Battalion will be coming."

Hope walked forward, his voice and posture radiating with uncaring, "Let them come."

Cloud watched as the young man began leading them back up one of the gargantuan roots that jutted up into the air and crisscrossed with the remainder of the bridge. However, as Light shot past Hope, with her natural grace and training, the boy began to lose his balance; noticing the pen full of hungry monsters below, Cloud shot out his hand, catching the boy but shoved him more roughly than he would have liked forward to help stabilize him. Leaping onto the walkway and continuing onward, something struck Cloud as odd: instead of the usual clatter of three pairs of shoes, two seemed as strong as usual but the other seemed to gradually becoming more distant. Turning his gaze and using his peripheral vision, Cloud found their youngest companion to be lagging behind.

"Hold up" said Cloud, causing Lightning to pause and turn; "Let's break for a second" he said, gesturing towards Hope (Lightning nodded in agreement). Hearing his companions, Hope dropped onto his rump.

Cloud looked around; he didn't like the fact that they were "fugitives" and yet there was so little private forces coming after them. He sighed a calming breath, gently trying to coax the idea that beggars couldn't be choosers in their situation. A small 'chink' broke Cloud out of his thoughts; turning around, he watched as Hope toyed around with Lightning's knife, with quite an unfathomable look on his face.

"What's eating you?" asked Lightning tersely; the boy did not respond. "Okay, we can tell you're hung up on something" she barked with growing annoyance in her voice.

Cloud observed the boy continue in his brooding silence, when suddenly it struck him: "Does this have something to do with Snow?" he asked. Noticing the boy's grip on the knife tighten, he persisted on, "What happened to make you hate him so much?"

"You wouldn't understand" Hope snapped, flipping open the knife dangerously; Cloud stared at him with eyes full of concern but his face clearly in shock. Light's favorite thing to say to him lately as apparently rubbed off on the kid.

Lightning moved past Cloud and knelt down before the boy; "You, me _and_ Cloud are partners Hope" he could hear Lightning remind him gently. Hope looked down at the knife with a sad look and then finally spoke:

"My mother was killed because of him." Cloud exchanged looks with Lightning before diverting their full attention back to their young ally. He described how his mother had volunteered to help NORA at the Hanging Edge (even how she valiantly saved Snow's life at one point) but ultimately met her end when she slipped from Snow's grasp and plummeted to the ground far below.

"It's his fault, and he needs to pay for it" he said angrily, though his shaky shoulders seemed to be holding back tears. "I'm not ready yet," he conceded as he traced the edge of the knife with his eyes before adding with conviction "_But I will be_.

"That's why I followed you and Cloud…" he said as he returned to his feet "Snow dragged us all into this: you and me, your sister Serah…he's got to pay" without another word, began to continue onward. Cloud watched the boy sadly: so much pain for someone so young; then again, hearing his words, reminded him of the weight he bore from his own past, thinking back to the hurt-filled words of a distraught Elmyra Gainsborough.

The trio continued on, moving in a very tense and awkward silence. Approaching the next platform, they noticed a crystalline branch to have collapsed and was now blocking their way. Moving faster than words could form in his mind, Lightning stepped with her right leg and swung her narrow blade downward, shattering the tree limb like glass.

"Could I use one of those?" asked Hope staring, impressed, at Lightning's sword; seeing the look of greedy hunger in his eyes, Cloud shot her a sharp look but could instantly tell that she didn't need any help. "Bit too heavy for you" she said, flicking her wrist, shifting her weapons form, and then shoving it back into its holster. Hope sighed in disappointment.

Then something caught the boy's eye and he took off like a shot; "Hope, what—where are you going?" Cloud called as he and Light gave chase. Find the boy standing stone still before them, they ran up to him and beheld the horrific sight before them. Sprawled out across the platform, were three PSICOM soldiers, their guns laying in their limp hands and blood, emanating from deep gashes across their torsos, drenched the floor.

"What happened here?" gasped Hope, staring transfixed at the scene.

"Bad luck" replied Lightning "They came looking for us and found something worse."

"We can't just leave them like this" said Hope, his voice shrill and hysterical; however, Lightning caught him by the shoulder and threw him to the ground with a hard "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"

Cloud stared at Lightning with a look of utter disbelief as she lectured Hope on emotional control; "If you want to survive, you'll forget about sympathy!" she said coldly.

She sighed calmingly "How do I explain?" she muttered to herself; Cloud crossed his arms. He didn't agree with Lightning imprinting her stoic and detached mannerisms onto her young and impressionable comrade but watched with furrowed eyebrows as he waited to hear Light's "explanation".

"Think of it like a strategy" said Lightning kneeling down to face Hope (who was still collapsed in shock). "Focus on your ultimate goal and shut out everything else; still your mind, move on instinct. Let doubt take over and despair will cripple you."

"Strategy," said Hope curiously, returning to his feet "Good, I'll take anything to help me get through this." He took several, thought filled, steps forward before saying "I'll call it, Operation: Nora."

"NORA?" asked Cloud, his eyebrows raising incredibly. "My mother's name" he replied simply.

Cloud shot Lightning a heated look as she gasped "Your revenge?"

Hope nodded; "Don't tell me," he shot suddenly "I know getting revenge on "him" won't bring her back…but 'sorry' won't cut it."

"Snow didn't kill your mother, the Sanctum did" said Cloud firmly.

"WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?" screamed Hope, rounding on his spikey haired companion; glowering Mako blue locked with angry Blue/Green eyes as Cloud and Hope locked eyes for a minute. Their staring contest went on forever but Cloud refused to answer the boy.

"Fine" said the boy at last, taking out Lightning's knife and flipping open the blade "I'll fight the Sanctum with you, I'll learn to survive." He said the words with conviction as he stared hypnotically at the curved blade before turning to leave.

Waiting until the boy was out of sight, Cloud rounded on Lightning; "You sure that was wise?" he asked scathingly.

"Shut up" snapped Lightning "I screwed up, _I get it_! But what does it matter, he's upset but he wouldn't act on his words. Not _him_."

"For someone who claims to understand his position, you seem to be lacking in sympathy" replied Cloud coldly "Anyone as angry as him can accomplish anything, if they're clear headed enough to act." Lightning took a step forward, not appearing to be listening; the angry beast in Cloud's gut roared in annoyance. Acting on primal instinct, Cloud seized Lightning by the shoulder and spun her roughly to face him.

"You listen and you listen good: If that kid does anything that he'll end up regretting, you'll bear as much responsibility as I will" said Cloud warningly, pointing a finger threateningly at Lightning's startled face. "If he ruins his life because of your words, _I_ will personally hold you responsible!" He left without another word, huffing angrily as he went.

"_How could she be so uncaring_?" Cloud thought as he moved; "_Boorish_, _brainless woman_" he though savagely. He moved with clenched fists and gnashed teeth. Suddenly, his anger broke and he stood in disbelief and shame: for someone who had only come to look for a quick death, he certainly cared enough like someone who wasn't.

_Oh stop pretending like you care_ came the voice, scathingly in his ear; his body burst into white-hot fire and a wave of dizziness brought Cloud crumpling down onto one knee. _They are l'Cie_, _humans whose lives are toyed with by the whims of capricious entities_; _they have every right to feel_. _You_, _on the other hand_, _are an insignificant puppet who has no feelings_.

"No," said Cloud weakly "Shut up;" _How long are you going to resist me_? said the voice calmly _When will you accept that you are mine_.

"Never" shot Cloud defiantly, throwing a hand over one of the Materia in his arm and pushed, feeling the pain pulsate from his chest and his arm; a small glob of blood burst from his mouth. _So you would rather die than save yourself by becoming me_? questioned the voice curiously; it laughed a soft, silky laugh that reflected every level of evil in it. _It matters little_, _even if you die by the Withdrawal I will still take over_ (Cloud pushed harder on his arm, maxing his pain tolerance to where everything else had become a numbing sensation) _No matter what you do_, _nothing will forestall my return_.

"SHUT UP!" Cloud roared; the pain had receded so suddenly it made his head light. Blinking the stars out of his eyes, the first thing he saw was the shining green from his Flare Materia. He inhaled deeply, attempting to keep himself from shaking but he couldn't hide the truth from himself: he was losing his fight with Mako Withdrawal. The more he fought the more Mako became poisonous and the closer he came to joining Zack and Aerith; why? The question arose so suddenly from out of the blue that Cloud actually paused. Why was he fighting so hard? What was it that kept driving him forward?

The sound of rapidly approaching footfalls hit Cloud's ears; the excuses and lies rose to the top of his mind, each as unlikely and unbelievable than the last. Hope arrived first, "What's going on?" he cried looking fearful "What happened?"

"It's okay" said Cloud spewing out the first lie that escaped first, "I, er, I tripped and stuck my leg on Merciless tip." He released a breath, he hadn't realized he was holding, when Hope eyed one of the dagger-like swords and then down to the small puddle of blood on the walkway, flashed into his emerald powers and bombarded his leg with white orbs of light. Normally the white magic would have tickled as it healed his wound but the ball touched his leg and dissipated like a wisp of steam; Cloud quickly faked a look of relief and thanked his young comrade.

"Who were you talking to?" asked Lightning sharply; a bead of nervous sweat trickled down Cloud's back.

"What do you mean?" he replied in his usual despondent attitude.

"I distinctly heard you tell some to shut up" she replied; Cloud averted his gaze downward and said quickly "I wasn't talking to anyone." Before Lightning could pursue the subject further, their next challenge presented itself.

"Wha-" started Hope as a new enemy launched itself towards them. It was different than any monster Cloud had ever encountered: it was a giant metal toad with a large, icy blue, bulb on its back. "This is it…" came Hope's voice (Cloud turned to find him pulling out his boomerang) "…Operation: Nora" he let out a cry of battle and then sprinted towards the creature. Taking hold of his swords, Cloud split the parent blades so that each sat comfortably in each hand and, with Lightning by his side, charged in after Hope.

Shooting past Hope, Cloud flourished his blades menacingly before crashing them on top of the monsters flat head. The beast bucked its head wildly, chucking Cloud across the platform. He collided with the ground hard, knocking the wind out of his lungs; pushing back to his feet (fighting for his breath) he was in time to watch as his comrades burned into red and blue auras (Lightning screeching "SLASH AND BURN").

However, the beast lowered its neck and the bulb on its back opened up and spun as viciously as a circular saw. The attack barely missed them as they leapt back just as the saw-like bulb cut into the metal platform. Battle instincts kicked in, Cloud waved his arm (the golden glow of his yellow Materia) and shrouded the three of them in a hazy cloak of lime and gold; he could feel the aura envelop his body and make him faster and more powerful. Charging once again, Cloud became lost in the flurry of attacks that escaped from him.

Slashing with all of the pent up anger and frustration within him, he slashed through the earsplitting screech of metal cutting through metal. "_I will not succumb to_ you" he thought furiously "_I am not just a puppet_, _I_—_AM_—_MY_—_OWN_—_PERSON_! _YOU_—_DON'T_—_KNOW_—_ME_!" Raising his swords high above his head, Cloud froze with the sensation that he was being watched: shifting his gaze, he found Lightning and Hope staring at him with looks of utmost horror and surprise. Turning back to the enemy, he found the robotic toad creature to be nothing more than shrapnel within a large dent in the platform. Embarrassed and ashamed of his outburst, Cloud fused _Ascalon_ and _Avenger_ into one again, secured it to his back and continued onward.

He led them in a very tense silence; he wasn't proud that he'd lost control and was even less that he'd done so in front of them. He was pulled from his stupor when the heavy 'clunk' of his boots on the metal walkway gave way to a soft crunching noise. Looking down, he found the walkway to have ended and he was now standing on solid, however parched, grass; they'd finally reached the exit to the facility! He turned back to his comrades as they caught up with him.

"Hey, what happened back there?" asked Lightning after a moment of silence. Cloud averted his eyes to his shoes; he didn't know how much longer he could keep hiding it from them.

"I just-" he started but paused, what was he supposed to say: _Sorry_, _I just lost control_? They revered him much more of a hero on Cocoon than he himself did; however, unwanted, they looked to him for strength and guidance and he couldn't let them think he was weakening. "-I'm sorry" he finished. Both of his companions placed a comforting hand on his back.

"I'll go scout on ahead" said Hope after a moment and then charged forward leaving Lightning and Cloud alone.

"Light, look, I'm sorry about what I said earlier" said Cloud awkwardly but to his surprise found Lightning to be shaking her head.

"No, you were right: I messed up big time" said Lightning with a grim expression on her face looking off towards where Hope had gone "Why did I tell him that stuff?"

"You were only advising him" said Cloud consolingly "You were trying to help him." He looked off towards Hope "But he's only got a one track mind right now." Cloud turned to Lightning "You need some help talking him out of it?"

Lightning was silent for a meditative moment before answering: "No," she said it firmly "I got that idea stuck in his head and I'll fix it." Cloud smiled at the determination in her voice.

At that moment, Hope came back into view and waved them forward. Following the young man's lead, Cloud and Lightning moved forward. Coming around the face of the of the rock wall, he was met by a blinding ray of sunshine that smacked him mercilessly in the face and the biting tang of salty air. Squinting his eyes, Cloud was able to open them slightly and found a large city nestled within the mountainside, facing the ocean.

"That's it" said Hope gesturing towards the city "Palumpolum."

"That's where _you_ live, right?" asked Cloud observing the distant town. Hope did not respond.

"We'll stop in when we get there" said Lightning suggested calmly; Cloud could tell that she was attempting to appeal to the young man's rationality but the boy shook his head defiantly.

"No" said Hope quickly "_We're l'Cie now_ and no one there but my dad." It was pretty evident to see the sadness on his face but it didn't take a genius to hear the underlying spite and contempt in his voice.

"You need to let him know what happened" said Cloud encouragingly; but again the boy ignored him and set off down the path towards the city. As he readied to follow, Lightning came quickly:

"What did you say to Serah?"

Cloud turned around with an eyebrow cocked and the single word tumbled past his lips, "What?"

"Back at Bresha, you said something to Serah before we left Snow behind, what did you say?" Lightning explained patiently.

"What brought _that_ up?" asked Cloud curiously, staring at Lightning; she shrugged.

"I don't know; I guess with our situation being constantly on the move…I never had the opportunity to ask."

Cloud's stare of confusion and disbelief quickly turned into a look of understanding and one of slight embarrassment. "I told her I was sorry" he said, earning him his own look of disbelief from Light; "The incident in Bodhum was my fault and I apologized for starting this mess. I also promised her that I would get you, Snow and the others out of this: one-way-or-another."

"HEY!" called Hope from afar (causing Light and Cloud to turn) "ARE YOU TWO COMING OR WHAT?" The two of them chuckled at his eagerness.

"Hey, thank you" said Lightning, setting off after Hope; Cloud watched her go, with a thin smile on his face, before muttering quietly: "You're welcome."

**Well, that's chapter six; I think the POV got messed up in some parts so if you guys catch anything, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know. I promise I will try and get the next couple chapters up soon; in the meantime, I'LL look forward to your reviews/feedback.**


	8. Chapter 7: Palumpolum

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

Insanity, absolute insanity! The entrance to the city of Palumpolum was overrun with Sanctum soldiers. Any fugitive trying to find refuge would have seen this and hightailed it in the opposite direction; the band that Cloud was with, however, was charging straight at them! The trio dodged out of the sight of a platoon of Guardian Corps soldiers being briefed by a PSICOM officer.

"We can make it" said Hope quietly, cautiously on all fours and looking around Cloud's knee towards the soldiers, recapping their mission goal: "Get to the station, and board the train for Eden."

"You think it's still running?" asked Cloud incredulously, ducking his head back as a gold and blue, armor-clad soldier looked their way.

"If it isn't, we'll make it run" said Hope determinedly.

"_Then punch straight into the heart of the Sanctum_? Now you're thinking like a Pulse l'Cie" said Lightning sarcastically. Cloud gave her a disapproving look but quickly replaced it with a reminiscent grin from his own suicidal adventures.

"Well, this _is_ Operation: Nora"

Cloud's grin quickly faded at the boy's comment. "It's not just Snow I'm after; the Sanctum's got to pay too." Cloud and Lightning exchanged looks.

"Hey, _you're _the one who said we had to fight" Hope hissed to Light "Every minute we waste, we're tempting fate." Cloud felt his shoulder muscles tighten, Hope didn't know anymore than Light did about his situation but his comment hit home for him.

"Look" said Hope continuing on and snapping Cloud back to reality "There's some underground tunnels not far from here, I used to play in them when I was a kid." He pointed towards the eastern side of the city "No one uses the entrance anymore, so even the army doesn't know about it. But _I know where it is_, so we can sneak in unnoticed."

Cloud's eyebrows went up in impression; it was a pretty well thought out plan! "Sounds good" said Lightning with the same impressed face as Cloud.

"Great!" replied Hope as he took in a deep breath.

"Okay," said Cloud "Hope you know the way so take point, Light watch our six." Both of them nodded in concurrence. "On my mark" said Cloud holding up three fingers; he put down his ring finger first and then quickly followed with his middle finger. He paused with a quiet sigh and finally put down his last finger; Hope charged forward, Cloud followed suit and then closely by Lightning.

The trio weaved through the convoy of trucks and boxes of cargo, dodging the vigilant eyes of the surrounding soldiers. Making their way forward, as stealthily as possible, Cloud's eyes widened in terror as Hope tripped over some cables and stumbled headlong into one of the crates, knocking off a smaller box on top of it. Cloud's instincts kicked in; throwing himself onto the truck behind the crate (dragging Hope with him) and slapped a hand over the boys mouth (Lightning quickly mimicked his movements). Releasing Hope and pressing a finger to his lips, Cloud peered around the crate: a group of PSICOM and Guardian Corps troops had paused in their patrolling and had turned towards their direction. "You two check it out" barked the whip-like voice of a female commander.

Cloud stiffened; two soldiers were heading their way and they were trapped! A sudden pressure quickly took hold of Cloud's ankle (it took every ounce of his self-control to keep from making a peep). Shifting his gaze downward, he found Hope, on his belly, underneath the truck. He put a finger to his lips and gestured Cloud to follow; dropping quickly to his shoulder, Cloud rolled across the underside of the vehicle. Following Hope out of the corner of his eye, he launched himself into a large hunk of circular metal and watched, his breath held tightly. The feet of the two soldiers stood where he was standing a few seconds earlier before they headed back towards their group speaking some odd dribble about the cause being a cat.

The spikey-haired warrior sighed in relief; he looked around the metallic tubing and turned to Hope "What is this place?"

"It's an old drainage pipe" Hope explained, "The tunnel entrance is a little further up but this will lead directly to it." Cloud nodded; Hope moved forward, followed closely by Lightning. He followed them, ducking down to avoid hitting his head on the low metal grate ceiling. Trekking along as stealthily as two pairs of heavy boots and a set of sneakers could go, they followed the windy metal tube until they came to its abrupt finish.

"Give me a boost" said Hope, hoping up and down to see over the ledge that was slightly out of his reach. Cupping his hands and offering it to his young comrade, Cloud felt the pressure in his hands and then on his shoulders as he pushed the boy upward.

"Do you see anything?" questioned Lightning as Hope scanned the area.

"No," he said with a relieved sigh, "Nobody's here."

"Wonderful" said Cloud sarcastically as Hope used the top of his spikey head for a stepping stool and propelled himself over the ledge. Gripping the edge of the concrete as tightly as possible, Cloud snapped his elbows straight and pulled himself over as well. Quickly offering his hand to Lightning, pulling her up, the trio crossed over into the next labyrinth of piping.

The newest length of tubing was much shorter than the last as it quickly submitted to the sunlight and a hill of slippery white stone. Hiking up the incline, each helping the other two keep their footing. Reaching the top of the hill a horrifying sound hit Cloud's ears: the low, rumbling hum of aerial equipment; he turned and barked hurriedly "HIDE!"

Ducking under a metal grated stairwell, the trio waited with their breaths held. Soon enough, a pair of aerial PSICOM units passed by, their bulky packs emitting the eerie green light that held them aloft. The first of the two passed by them without a second glance; the second, however, glanced over in their direction. He adjusted a dial on his helmet (his pause drawing back his partner); the soldier turned to the other pointed towards their direction and then waved his hand with a tight fist. The second soldier nodded and the duo set off; "I know _that_ signal" said Lightning, her voiced filled with concern.

Cloud nodded in concurrence; "What? What does it mean?" asked Hope looking at both of his friends.

"Hope, how far are those tunnels?" asked Cloud quietly, ignoring the boys question.

"They're just up these stairs" said Hope, his shoulders tensing. Cloud turned towards them, the breath was gone from his lungs but the words escaped his lips without any hindrance:

"RUN!"

Lightning took off first, followed closely by Hope; high-tailing it after the two of them, Cloud pushed his legs for all they were worth up the metal stairs, his boots clomping heavily on the grated metal. "It's just up ahead, hurry!" called Hope pointing forward.

Cloud looked beyond his enemies; curled around the side of the mountain, was a large concrete conduit, leading into the city. The three of them crammed into the oblong tube, sloshing through ankle deep drainage water until they clomped heavily onto metallic flooring.

"Talk about close calls" panted Hope, doubling over to catch his breath; Cloud turned back to the entrance way, gripping at Vigilante and waiting for the ambush, but the stone archway remained devoid of soldiers.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine" said Hope soothingly, catching Cloud's look "Only kids like me know about that entrance."

"They'll find it" replied Lightning darkly "They'll call in a team and canvass the whole tunnel system."

Cloud nodded; realistically speaking, it was the most likely scenario and they would be in some serious hot water if they were caught. Curling up his arm, the ghostly cloak of bluish aura enveloping his body as he stored up his power; as the pressure began to become too much for him to hold back, he unleashed the spell with all of its fury. The rockets of light blue charged from the palm of his hand and smashed into the archway with a mountainous 'CRASH'!

The entire tunnel trembled violently and sight and sound disappeared in a haze of dust and crackling rock. As the dust began to settle (the roar still echoing vibrantly throughout the chamber) the way from which they'd come moments earlier was now barricaded by a wall of rubble. Turning around, finding Lightning and Hope cringed over, hands slapped over their ears and now staring at him with looks of utmost incredulousness.

Cloud shrugged simply, "No one will be following us _now_."

As he walked past them, he couldn't help but gnash his teeth in annoyance as Hope whispered tactlessly loud: "Do you think he could have been louder?"

"So, where's this thing come out anyway" asked Lightning, ignoring the sarcastic question.

"Well, it…it-" started Hope though he quickly began faltering; Cloud turned back to look at him. "-I don't really know for sure" he finished sheepishly.

"_You've got to be kidding_" thought Cloud grimly, exchanging the same disbelieving look with Lightning.

"We'll find out today" said Lightning comfortingly, fumbling with a control panel and summoning a platform-like gondola to them. Cloud grinned to himself as he watched her climb onto the platform, she'd come so far with her patience with Hope that it was refreshing and inspiring. He glanced over to Hope, who was walking like Lightning and himself: straight-backed, chin level and his eyes straight and focused. Time with the two former soldiers had made quite an impact on the young man. As the gondola inched forward in its agonizingly slow crawl, a dull heat collided with Cloud's skin, causing him to look up. Hovering near the ceiling of the room was a strange statue: the gargantuan wings of a stone, butterfly-like mask revolved slowly around a dimly lit but energetically burning, orange crystal.

"What is it?" asked Cloud, staring at the statue with a cocked eyebrow.

"That's the city's food-production Fal'Cie" explained Hope patiently, though looking at Cloud like he was crazy. "Names: Carbuncle."

Cloud turned back to the giant deity: _so this was a Fal'Cie_; but quicker than it had come, the awe was irrevocably replaced by the risen eye-browed look of incredulity. It didn't look very "god-like" nor did he feel much fear or reverence towards it.

"That's one of our enemies, being Sanctum and all" said Hope, finishing a lecture on the pertaining Fal'Cie that Cloud didn't hear a word of.

"So kill him and cut off the food supply" said Lightning before adding "_That'll make us popular_."

Cloud snorted derisively, "I think people have enough reason to hate us right now, don't you?"

Lightning and Hope nodded; "Yeah, you're probably right: _hungry_ people make for _angry_ people" said Light concurrently.

"FREEZE!" screeched a loud voice from behind; Cloud felt his shoulders stiffen and he exchanged a quick look of surprise with his friends. "I SAID FREEZE!" the voice barked again.

"PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD, NOW!" called another voice; Cloud complied first, followed closely by Hope and then, begrudgingly, by Lightning. "NOW TURN SLOWLY" the voiced called, accompanied by the distinct priming of guns.

"Any ideas?" hissed Lightning as they rotated to find the two Guardian Corps soldiers muttering to each other.

"I do," said Cloud quickly, eyeing his golden Materia, which shined a dim scarlet light. "When I tell you to, both of you cover your ears and turn away" he advised them in a whisper.

Hope eyed him curiously "What are you planning?" he mouthed but as caught by the soldiers.

"Hey stop talking!" the first barked loudly; his accomplice brandished his weapon threateningly.

"NOW!" screamed Cloud, his voice echoed throughout the large chamber; throwing out his arm, Cloud felt the curious tingling sensation stem from his head, surge down his arm and emerge from the palm of his hand in the form of a low, hypnotic noise sounding very much like song. The soldiers doubled over as they resisted, struggling against the invisible captors that ruthlessly molested their ears; until, at last, both men went rigid and absolutely still.

"_Drop your weapons_…" Cloud thought calmly, motioning his fingers in a sweeping motion; there was a loud 'clatter' as both soldiers' guns slipped from their hands.

"…_Sleep_…" Cloud made a downward gesture (both of their shoulders slumped and necks became limp, distinct snores emanating from their direction). "…_away with you_" Cloud finished with a nonchalant wave of his hand. Snapping back into consciousness, both men looked around curiously before the first bent down awkwardly and pushed into a low leap and the second croaked: RIBBIT!

"_What did you do_?" cried Hope incredibly, taking his fingers out of his ears and watching the two soldiers begin a bizarre game of leapfrog.

"Don't worry" said Cloud pacifyingly "They're just in a dream-like trance where they think they're frogs." Cloud turned away as Lightning looked at him incredulously; "They'll be fine. Look, that spell will last a long time but it won't last forever so I suggest we move."

"That's pretty impressive Cloud" said Hope, patting him on the back "You'll have to teach me that some time." Cloud made no response, but was confused as to why he couldn't reveal his thoughts to them; the fact of the matter was: he _hated_ using that spell. In order for it to work, he had to force his own will upon others and (to be truthful) it made him feel dirty, like he was no better than Sephiroth whenever he took control of his clones.

Putting the thought out of his mind, Cloud realized that he was falling behind and quickly weaved up the staircase to catch his friends. The trio travelled in silence; using the statuesque Fal'Cie to mark their way around the area (though Cloud had to avoid looking downward, were the soldiers were still leaping around in their dream world).

Upon reaching a large platform, Hope broke the silence; "Look at us: Pulse l'Cie using a Sanctum Fal'Cie to tell where we're going. Sort of strange" he mused, staring up at the "deity".

"Not really" grunted Lightning "We've relied on them our whole lives: the food we eat, the light and water, it's all from the Fal'Cie." Cloud shot the Fal'Cie a dirty look, his thoughts immediately landing on the autocracy that was Shinra Corporation.

"You know, I think Cocoon was really built for them; _the rest of us_, we're just leeches. Parasites" said Lightning darkly, shooting Carbuncle a look of contempt.

"You think?" replied Cloud, his disdain for the Fal'Cie regime heading even further south.

"Well, yeah; I mean, they protect us…nurture us; they take care of—well, normal people. They treat us like we're special, almost like…" Hope bit down on his knuckle as he thought. After a moment of meditative silence he clapped his hands and revealed his theory: "_Like we're pets_!"

Cloud sighed deeply; looking over, however, he found Lightning looking truly unnerved from the boys words. "Like pets…" she said numbly "To them, we _are_ just pets; that's it, it makes sense" her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "I've-_I've been so blind_.

"I was raised into a Fal'Cie world…raised on a Fal'Cie leash…it was the only life I knew how to live." Lightning's rant went on to the point where her voice was becoming hysterical; Cloud watched her with a mixture of pity and disgust. He understood where she was coming from: having her whole life turned upside down only to find out just how low she really was on the food chain. However, he felt absolutely no sympathy towards her revelation of being nothing more than a "pet"; she was doing what she could to defy that aspect of life…something that he himself could never do, a fate that he could never escape from.

"Hope, listen to me…" said Lightning, snapping Cloud out of his thoughts and shifting his gaze back to them "…_Operation: Nora is over_."

"What?" Cloud and Hope shared the reaction, though Cloud was more successful in keeping his hidden away.

"NO!" said Hope shrilly, causing Cloud and Light to look startled "You told me to fight!"

"I made a mistake!" snapped Lightning

"But-" sputtered Hope "-you can't do this! You can't just build something up like that and then abandon me…"

"Calm down you two" said Cloud pacifyingly but was blown off by Lightning, who took Hope by the shoulders and said candidly:

"I won't abandon you!"

Cloud stared at her sadly, having finally figured out Lightning's motive for keeping their young companion. She released Hope's shoulders and continued forward, looking as though she were forcing herself; Cloud watched her leave, when a sudden ache struck his heart. He couldn't explain it, but he hated to see Lightning this way…it upset him to see her sad.

Putting a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder, Cloud led him after Lightning, who appeared to be intent on not speaking to either of them. "So what do we do now?" asked Hope, his sad expression staring down at his shoes. Cloud turned to him with a worried look on his own face.

"We're l'Cie! Ticking time-bombs…enemies of Cocoon; if we can't follow the plan, do we just lay down and die?" The boy asked hysterically, clutching his wrist tightly.

"I didn't mean we should give up" snapped Lightning rounding on their young friend.

"THEN WHAT BATTLES DO WE FIGHT? AND AGAINST WHO? TELL ME THAT!" Hope roared, coming within inches of Lightning's face.

"I don't know yet" Lightning barked back; "YOU DON'T KNOW YET?" cried Hope incredulously.

"THAT'S ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU!" thundered Cloud, silencing them both and drawing shocked looks towards him. He breathed a frustrated sigh "Look, the last thing we need to start fighting amongst ourselves. We may not have much to go on, but we can't give up hope."

"_Hope_?" snorted the silver-haired young man menacingly, taking a seat on the stairwell "there is no hope, not for l'Cie!"

Despite the situation in its entirety, Lightning actually laughed (albeit sadly) "I was just like you…" she quickly became silent. She turned her back meditatively and then spoke again: "My parents died when I was fifteen and I had to be strong for Serah, so I thought I needed to forget my past. And I became "Lightning"; I thought that by changing my name I could forget who I was but I was just a kid."

She fell silent again, staring up at the ceiling and said in a voice no louder than a whisper: "Lightning, it flashes bright and then fades away…it can't protect, it only destroys."

For a moment, Cloud stared at Lightning with a look of both pity and awe; he'd never heard her story before but absorbed the words, taking in everything: every painful memory, every tough experience that shaped her into who she was today. They were so alike, yet he made a silent note to chastise himself later for believing that her birth name was _actually_ Lightning.

Lightning plopped down on the stairs next to Hope, "She-She tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen…" her voice quivered as though she were on the brink of tears "…_I threatened her_." She fell silent again before the realization crashed over her so powerfully, Cloud could see it transform her beautiful features: "The only one who believed her: was Snow."

"DON'T SAY IT!" barked Hope suddenly, crashing his fist onto his knee "Don't say his name. It brings everything back, I keep playing it in my head, what happened to her…and then I see his stupid face and _he's smiling_! How could he smile when she's dead-" the boy became quiet, no longer able to speak.

Cloud sighed; he knew that Hope had every right to be angry and he also had every right to dislike Snow. But he couldn't let the boy go on hating so rashly, _he had to set the record straight_.

"From what I know: you're mothers death sounds like an accident from a worthy cause," he said, burying his hands into his pockets.

"WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?" snapped Hope angrily "_YOU WEREN'T EVEN THERE_!"

"You're right: I wasn't there" said Cloud coldly, though pulled back the reigns of his own emotions. "But if you need to hate someone, then hate me…I'm the _real_ reason your mother is dead: that Purge was entirely my fault!"

He turned away from them, noting wanting to face their looks of horror and confusion in the newly awkward air. Cloud took a deep breath and explained everything that Nabaat had told him: how the Bodhum raid had been set up to try and make him lose all credit as a leader and the discovery of the Fal'Cie rectified _that_ undeniable failure. He became still after a moment, letting his words wash over them; hearing their stories…no, the stories of only two survivors, had all occurred because of him and he'd have to bear the burden that he'd ruined two more lives along with the immense load of his past sins for the rest of his pathetic life.

Then, he felt a pair of arms curl around his shoulders and another gripped his arm tightly; "Thank you" he could hear Lightning breath into his ear.

"Cloud-" started Hope, who looked down at his shoe before bearing deeply into Cloud's Mako Blue orbs "-you're not responsible for my mom's death; you didn't hand her that gun…

"Come on, let's keep moving" said the young man, who turned on his heel and walked away (though Cloud noticed him drag his arm across his eyes). Lightning released Cloud and promptly followed. Cloud smiled weakly, he'd told them the truth and all he accomplished was affirming Hope's adamant hate of Snow and achieving a "Thank you" from Lightning. He sighed and followed suit; he followed them up the stairs and down the grated walkway, reaching an elevator that lead up towards the sky. "This will take us straight into central Palumpolum" Hope croaked, apparently realizing he still had the ability to speak.

Lightning punched the lift button, sighed and then said advising "Talk to your dad."

"What?" questioned Hope furiously "Why?"

"Fighting without hope is no way to live, it's just a way to die" said Lightning somberly.

Cloud nodded, "I agree: you should find the hope that you were named for.

"You said before that you if hadn't followed Lightning and me, you wouldn't have stood a chance. Staying alive we can help you with, but neither of us can give you hope."

"You think meeting my dad will make anything better?" asked Hope spitefully, taking hold of his wrist again. "He's never listened to a word I've said, he's just-he'll never believe all this l'Cie stuff." The elevator came to a shuddering halt before them and the silver-haired youth clambered on, refusing to speak again. Stepping up onto the lift and smashed his fist onto the lift button, sending them soaring upward at a dizzying speed.

"Hope's right, you know?" Lightning whispered so only Cloud could hear, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "The Purge wasn't your fault…half of the stuff that comes out of Nabaat's mouth are nothing more than lies. _We don't blame you_, so don't you go blaming yourself."

Cloud managed a smile, however artificial "Thanks Light" he replied, returning her comforting grip.

The elevator excursion was not a long one, as the lift popped out of the ground like a game of whack-a-mole and immersing them in a bath of warm and blinding sunlight. Blinking the lights out of his eyes, Cloud looked around at the shining metropolis: it was as glamorous on the inside as it was on the outside but something struck him as odd; for the middle of the day, the square where they'd emerged was impressively devoid of any life. "Keep sharp," said Cloud gripping the handle of his broadsword, distrusting the silence, "Something doesn't feel right." He led them forward, cautiously, listening to the large screen bellowing a News report:

"_In a recently convened emergency conference_, _the Sanctum announced that the fugitive l'Cie have been located_. _The military plans to apprehend the l'Cie and carry out a public execution_. _These images coming to you from the scene in Palumpolum_…"

Cloud froze; shifting his gaze upward, he found the large screen and seeing the news report was showing live feed images: images of the three of them! The wind kicked up all around them and (quickly snapping their heads around) they found themselves cornered by a small army of PSICOM soldiers; aerial snipers, ground troops, Air-borne Shock Troopers and war machines surrounded the trio (each back-to-back). From the large airship hovering above their heads they could hear the commanding officer bark over a microphone: "These are l'Cie, Show no mercy. They aren't people, They're Targets!"

"Think you can handle this many?" asked Lightning drawing her weapon; "Might be tough if one more shows up," replied Cloud fusing _Vigilante_ and _Vendetta_ with the parent blades. "You're both crazy!" responded Hope his voice trembling with fear; the first attack came swiftly and Cloud attacked with an upward side slash and flowed into a downward bash, finally twisted on his heel and spun as if he were a human tornado.

Gaining speed and altitude, Cloud finally launched eight PSICOM troops back into the ground; as he dropped back to the ground, Cloud lifted his sword over his shoulder and thrust it forward, charging towards the earth. The tip of the massive blade pierced a soldier through the chest, burying a quarter of its length through the soldiers body, but moving on instinct, Cloud kicked his legs over his head into a spectacular flip and slammed his sword into the ground, the shockwave felling several soldiers in the surrounding area.

Abandoning his sword where it was, Cloud wheeled around, catching a golden clad soldier in the side of the head with _Merciless_ and then jabbing another in the neck with the tip of _Sidewinder_. Quickly scooping up the mother sword and combining the final two swords, Cloud readied for the next onslaught. Lifting his sword, Cloud observed the battle zone: Lightning was showing no mercy for anyone foolish enough to be in her way; Hope on the other hand, though faring well with his magic, had failed to noticed the singed soldier, sneaking up behind him with his rifle raised.

"HOPE!" roared Cloud, charging forward; he shoved the boy out of the way with his shoulder and his body convulsed horribly as fiery bullets ripped through his chest. His senses began to fail him as he collapsed onto his back, succumbing to the immense fire in his upper body, blood gushing from his chest and mouth. There was a bright flash of light and his then his silver-haired friend was kneeling over him, his eyes teeming with concern. Suddenly, Lightning was standing over him too, although she had begun rummaging around for something inside her field medic pouch.

"N-no time" coughed Cloud waving her bag shut; the both of them stared at him, stunned. "You guys keep fighting, I'll be alright" he lied, fighting to remain conscious.

"You're nuts!" shrieked Hope incredibly, throwing out his arm and enveloping the group in a wave of light and heat and cool.

"G-Go" coughed Cloud; despite a reluctant look, Hope immediately returned to the fray. Lightning turned back to him and looked him dead in the eyes and muttered, with a squeeze of his arm, "I promise I'll protect you, so stay alive!" and then she too was gone. He lay there, staring up at the sky, feeling the warm stickiness creep up his neck; his breathing was ragged. This was it, this is what he'd come looking for but…he couldn't now, he couldn't leave them behind when they needed him most.

The sudden sound of sound of footfalls reached his ears; shifting his gaze downward, Cloud found, to his utmost horror, the midnight black armor of PSICOM creeping up towards him. He poised his gun in a firing position, blinding him with the laser targeting, and bellowed: "_Eat this traitor_!" Then all was gone in a belch of fire and a thunderous boom.

_Pathetic_…_a puppet is truly worthless without its master_…

**~o Lightning's POV o~**

"Think you can handle this many?" asked Lightning drawing and switching _Blazefire_ to blade mode; "Might be tough if one more shows up," replied Cloud fusing blades to make his large sword heftier. "You're both crazy!" responded Hope his voice trembling with fear; the first attack came swiftly and Lightning went full out commando on the multiple PSICOM bastards dumb enough to be in her way.

She dragged her blade through the shoulder of a PSICOM soldier in a downward slash, and then swiftly through the rib cage of a GC soldier. Repeating the downward action, Lightning launched herself head-over-heels in a masterful backflip, and a loud roar deafening her ear as she fired hot slugs from her gunblade. Landing back on her feet, her nostrils crinkled from the smell of blood and gunfire.

"HOPE!" called a voice from behind, drawing Lightning's attention; she watched in horror as Cloud twitched as blood and gore escaped from his back and then collapsed to the ground. "NO!" the word escaped her before she could stop it (barely noticing the fireball immerse the shooter, killing him instantly).

"Oh my god" gasped Lightning, running over to her fallen comrade; he was an absolute mess, lying in a rapidly growing pool of his own blood. Snapping open her leathery field medic pouch and rummaged for a potion.

"N-no time" coughed Cloud waving her bag shut; Lightning stared at him, stunned, he was crazy! If his wounds weren't taken care of-she didn't want to think about it. "You guys keep fighting, I'll be alright" he said, physically fighting to remain conscious.

"You're nuts!" shrieked Hope incredibly, throwing out his arm and enveloping the group in a wave of light, heat and cool as he launched another ball of flame and ice.

"G-Go" coughed Cloud; despite a reluctant look, Hope immediately returned to the fray. Lightning turned back to him and looked him dead in the eyes and muttered, with a squeeze of his arm, "I promise I'll protect you, so stay alive!"

Turning back to the fight, flashing into the familiar rings of navy blue and launched several orbs of fire at the enemies; "DON'T GIVE IN MEN!" cried a field commander over the screams of his men "Charge! And take down this l'Cie bitch!" Lightning thrust her arm into the air and called down her wrath in a storm of thunderbolts. Flashing into a cloak of fiery red, Lightning charged forward, twisting on her heel and throwing back a multitude of soldiers with a mighty swipe of her _Blazefire Saber_.

There was a thunderous boom and Lightning froze; that gunshot was too close! She turned sharply to find Hope still standing, but wearing a terror-stricken look. Wheeling around, Lightning found a single PSICOM Shock Trooper, standing over Cloud and his gun steaming. "CLOUD!" the word spilled absentmindedly from her mouth; switching _Blazefire_ into gun mode, Lightning squeezed the trigger, burying a bullet into the soldier's chest. The duo charged over to their comrade, staring in horror: he was spread eagle where he'd fallen, lying in a pool of his own blood, and now sported a bloody hole in his temple. "Hope," she barked but was quickly answered with an obedient "Yeah!"

"Together on three: one…two…three!" extending their arms with a wave, two orbs of soft white light erupted from their hands and jetted into Cloud's chest. Radiating an equally gentle light, the holes in his head and chest closed but he did not stir; "Hold on" said Hope desperately. Putting his palms together and lifting them slowly, a small orange orb that glowed like a miniature sun danced in his hands; lifting the orb above his head, he slammed the light onto Cloud's chest. His body burned with a flame-like aura but quickly extinguished with a soft pulsation; but again Cloud lay lifeless before them.

"No!" gasped Lightning, falling to her knees.

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" shouted Hope, frustrated tears creeping down his face. "He taught me that spell; he said it would revive your allies…"; Lightning was very grateful that he lost the ability to speak. Though the tears continued to fall, Lightning's fingers curled tightly around Blazefire, her eyebrows furrowing and teeth gnashed angrily. She looked up, the pit of her stomach roaring with an angry resolve; "Hope…" she said, her voice trembling with fury, turning to the solemn faced boy "…_Slash and Burn_!"

Pushing back to her feet and rushing forward, Lightning cut down any in her path with furious swings of her sword, aided by magical attacks. "_ARCHMAGE_" she bellowed, shifting into a familiar pattern of deep-blue rings; hearing Cloud's previous words ring through her mind, Lightning channeled the power from the brand on her chest, through her arm and into her gunblade. The raging heat plowed through her body until her sword burst into flames, though did not stay this way very long as she quickly extinguished the roaring fire by thrusting it downward into a PSICOM soldiers collarbone. Forcibly drawing the blade from the black-clad soldier's body, she charged the blade with her magic again only this time, in place of roaring flames, the blade rang with sparkling electricity. There was a dull 'BONG' from behind, drawing Light's attention; attempting to attack her from behind where a troop of Guardian Corp units that swung their metal batons menacingly but only managed to hit the translucent shield (created by Hope) that encompassed her. Swinging _Blazefire_ in an X-formation, Lightning plowed her angry sword into the group, swatting them away as if they were insects. She swiped again, this time in a circular motion that struck down an ornately dressed PSICOM warrior, and she pointed business end of Blazefire's gun-mode at his head; if she was going down, she was going to take as many of the bastards who killed Cloud with her!

Suddenly, the world went dark, and Lightning's gaze shot towards the sky; the azure blanket above them had become full of black clouds that began to swirl like a great maelstrom. Wild bolts of electricity crackled all around them when a sudden glow burst from behind her; turning sharply, Lightning found something simply astonishing: standing with his head to the ground and radiating a soft green fire, was Cloud. Lightning gasped in surprise and disbelief; He was alive, she didn't know how or why but all she cared about was that he was alive! However, her growing elation deflated quite rapidly as Cloud lifted his head and the terrifying difference in her friend became all too real.

His glowing blue eyes had now gone a bright green and he raised his hefty sword above his shoulder with the tip pointing downward. Lightning's jaw dropped in horror as his lips contorted into an evil smile.

"Forward men!" shouted the Commanding Officer (whom Lightning knew as Yaag Rosch), "Whatever this l'Cie magic is…_Take it down_!"

"NO, STOP!" Lightning cried to the multitude of soldiers that charged passed her, and her gaze shifted upward towards the airship. Rosch was crazy if he thought Cloud's unnatural revival was their doing but he was crazier if he thought that ordinary soldiers could take on Cloud; he was sending them to a suicidal death!

"AAAAAARRRRRRGH!" screams erupted from the front; Lightning turned sharply. She found her spikey-haired comrade swinging his sword widely, and showering himself in blood as the crimson rain burst from the severed torsos of three soldiers. Spinning on his heel, Lightning watched, transfixed, as he plunged the entirety of his large sword through a golden-armored warrior's chest, only to rip it away violently. Watching him swing his mammoth sword widely once again, Lightning felt the urge to vomit as the action resulted in a PSICOM warriors head rolling off its shoulders only to bounce unnaturally off the ground.

"What's going on?" cried Hope, with a terror-stricken look on his face "_What is he doing_?"

Lightning couldn't answer, positively petrified in disbelief. Cloud's eyes shot upwards, and the evil smile returned. His left shoulder began to bubble under his shirt, and then with a loud slurp and the sound of ripping fabric and a demonic, bat-like wing sprouted forth; Lightning could only watch in terror as the wing gave a mighty flap, shooting the golden-haired warrior skyward. Snapping her neck upward so quickly that she nearly cricked it, Lightning was in time to watch Cloud twirl his sword and ejaculate an azure beam from his many blades. The beam struck Rosch's airship with such ferocity that it cut through it like hot butter, but was followed quickly by an earsplitting explosion, fire and jet black smoke spewing into the air (Rosch could be heard screaming orders). The damaged airship quickly disappeared around the multitude of buildings just as Cloud touched back down with a gentle flap of his demonic wing. He turned his head towards the remaining forces of Guardian Corps and PSICOM, the evil smile splitting across his face and then began making his way towards them.

Lightning watched, _Blazefire_ tumbling from her fingers, as Cloud moved past her without a word. She didn't know what was going on or why it was happening, but one thing was so clear that it rang clearly throughout her heart: this was not Cloud! Feeling the strength returning to her legs and determination racing through her, Lightning did what was, probably, the stupidest thing she'd ever done; pushing forward as hard as her legs go, Lightning charged forward and wrapped her arms around Cloud's torso, slamming her chest into his back.

"Stop…" she said imploring to her former Captain, feeling the heat of his flaming cloak burning the skin on her face; Cloud stared at her with green, cat-like eyes and snarled at her, as if he had the mentality of a wild beast but Lightning was persistent. "…you're not a monster don't let this thing take over…_please_, _come back to me_."

Cloud's snarling slowly began to become silent, causing Lightning to look up; she could feel his muscles slowly begin to loosen and the fiery aura beginning to dissipate. To her great relief, his eyes, like a fog lifting in wisps of thin condensation, turned from the cat-like green back to their normal orbs of glowing blue. He blinked, looking around slowly; Lightning released him and he stumbled forward, looking around at the carnage and jumped as he noticed the bat wing sprouted from his shoulder. Cloud spun around and stared Lightning dead in the eyes; Lightning could see the terror and mortification in his eyes. The hand around his sword twitched involuntarily, before the bat-wing gave another mighty flap and Cloud soared into the sky.

"CLOUD WAIT!" cried Lightning, though to no avail; her voice couldn't reach what was steadily flying away.

"Light!" called Hope, drawing Lightning's attention back to the soldier-ridden courtyard; all those that had survived Cloud's rampage, having realized the most imminent threat was now gone, had begun to mobilize their remaining forces towards the two l'Cie.

Quickly scooping _Blazefire_ back into her hand, Lightning held up the business end threateningly towards the soldiers. "Start running" she hissed to Hope "I'll keep them busy."

"But-" Hope began to argue but was silenced by a look from Lightning.

"You survive" she said simply, her grip on _Blazefire's_ handle tightened; she hated for this to be the end of her journey with Hope, but she had a new resolve: if she could break through the lines fast enough, there was a very open possibility that she could catch Cloud.

There was a resounding boom that drew the attention of everyone in the courtyard; several of the sniper units blared shots from their high-powered rifles but were subdued easily by a force of two people, whose faces Lightning could not see. One of the duo threw something out over the courtyard, whatever it was, erupted into runes of icy blue and two revealingly dressed, blue-skinned women came flying out, playing with each other almost as if they were dancing and showering the courtyard in ice. Lightning winced as gunshot roared all around her as the army opened fire on the women; taking hold of Hope's shoulder and taking cover in a nearby parking garage, she watched the women begin banding together and contorting into angles not humanly possible. Lightning suddenly realized that the women were not soldiers, _they were Eidolons_! The female summons finished their transformation into an ornately designed motorcycle of steel and icy-blue color.

The summoner, along with his accomplice, leaped atop the motorcycle and began their trek down the roads of ice; gunfire thunderously blasting from the riders. The duo drove in circles, shooting down soldiers in their path until the duo came skidding to a halt on the pavement; "IT'S HIM!" cried Hope disbelievingly. Lightning shared in her partner's incredulousness; atop the motorcycle, was a bronze-skinned woman, clad in blue robes and driving was _Snow_!

"Lightning!" he called with a familiar smile on his face but she ignored him; the more she stood around the further away Cloud got. Taking hold of Hope's shoulder, she forced the boy towards them.

"Take care of him" Lightning barked, shouldering _Blazefire's_ primed gun-mode.

"Lightning, listen to me!" said Snow quickly but was interrupted by Lightning,

"Get moving!"

"No, you don't understand! Serah's alright, she'll turn back!" Lightning sighed impatiently, she didn't have time for this. _She had to find Cloud_!

"Take care of Hope!" Lightning thundered, before holding out _Blazefire_ and charging in the direction that Cloud had flown off in.

Taking off as fast as her legs could go, Lightning pushed herself down a street, scanning the skies for her friend. Running out into an open street, again, completely devoid of civilian activity; however, high above the metropolis was the flying Cloud, now merely a speck in the distance. She made to move forward, but a sudden sturdiness kept her stationary; flicking her gunblade into blade mode and wheeling around, Lightning found herself holding her sword to the bronze-skinned woman's throat.

"Easy, easy" she said, holding up both arms; "I only came to keep you from doing something stupid. Geez, I'd have figured those lines on your shoulder would have taught you a little common sense." Lightning ignored her, lowering her weapon and shifted her eyes back to the opposing sky and found nothing. She scanned all over refusing to believe her eyes but was forced to accept the inevitable truth: Cloud was gone, vanished into the distance like a phantom.

"Hey" said the woman placing a hand on Lightning's shoulder "We can't stay here, PSICOM will be remobilizing and then they'll come looking for us full force!" Replacing Blazefire in his holster, Lightning gave one last look to the skies where Cloud had been before turning to the woman and nodding.

Lightning followed the woman off the street and down several empty alleyways; suddenly, the woman held up an arm, causing Lightning to freeze. She pulled a communicator from a beaded bag on her hip and put it to her ear; the woman was silent for several moments until a familiar voice cut across the airways; "It's me, what's up?"

"YOU DAMN WELL KNOW _WHAT'S UP_!" she bellowed into the little device "WHY HAVEN'T YOU CALLED IN?"

"Sorry, it slipped my mind" replied Snow good-naturedly; Lightning and the woman drew in exasperated breaths.

"Right…what's your status?" asked the dark-haired woman sternly.

"Great, great! Hope's great too, are _you_ alright?"

"I'm great, you're great, everybody's great!" she replied tersely before offering the communicator to Lightning. "Reunion time" she said "Figure out a rendezvous point."

Lightning took the device, casting a look of incredulousness towards the woman; _was she crazy_? Using a military communication device to communicate with other l'Cie?

"Don't sweat it" she said, noting Lightning's mutinous look "That line's hyper-encrypted." Lightning put the device to her ear, not totally reassured.

"Hey sis…" said Snow, sounding almost timid across the communication line "…is that you?"

"I'm not your sister!" Lightning snapped impatiently, _he hadn't changed one bit_! She released a calming breath, Snow's adamant personality wasn't a bad thing, but she just wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

"So what's the next move Light?" asked Snow as Lightning leaned against a brick wall; she was silent for a meditative moment. Travelling with Hope and Cloud had accomplished virtually nothing, though her thoughts turned back to the words she and her spikey-haired accomplice had preached to Hope.

"We'll meet at Hope's place…Felix Heights 35-A" Lightning said as calmly as she could muster. It _was_ a logical plan: meet up in a privately populated place, the military would never guess that fugitives would be hiding in a civilian suburb.

"Right, see you there…tell Fang 'hey'" said Snow with a laugh; Lightning turned to the bronze-skinned woman, registering her name in her memory, and sarcastically wiggled her fingers in her direction.

"Take care of Hope" said Lightning firmly, time mentoring the boy had made her feel very protective and worried for him. Suddenly, it came to her, her worry quickly draining from Hope to Snow.

"Snow, listen to me, it's about Hope: his mother was-Lightning, it's me" came the sober voice of her former travelling companion.

"I decided-" the boy began but his voice became choppy "-I have to-Operation-" suddenly the only sound coming from the little device was static.

"Hope? _Hope_!" Lightning called into the device but received no response "ANSWER ME! _HOPE_!"

"Yelling doesn't fix it" said the woman-named Fang, as though she were calming a child throwing a tantrum, before taking a rather snide turn and saying "It's called: _interference_."

Lightning let out a frustrated breath, practically throwing the communicator at Fang.

"You can chitchat when we get there" said Fang pacifyingly, putting the device back into her bag. "_I've_ got point, _you_ fall in behind and see if you can't cool off that head of yours." Lightning shot Fang a nasty look as she headed for the corner of the alley; her comrade waved her forward and both women ducked from the alleyway and down the empty street. Her soldiers training began to kick in as they ran as furiously as possible, her head constantly moving and her eyes always vigilant.

Throwing her back against the wall of another building, Lightning turned to her new comrade and found something quite odd. Located on her bare shoulder was a l'Cie brand. Only, instead of it being black, like her own, the crisscrossing mark was a snowy white. Noting her tangled hair, nonnative dress and speech and different brands, Lightning finally blurted out the one question that presently mattered: "Who are you?"

Fang stared deeply into Lightning's pale aqua eyes, apparently startled by the question; she followed, Lightning's gaze down to her brand and a wave of understanding visibly washed over her. "Where do I start" Fang sighed, scratching her head; "_Why not from the beginning_?" thought Lightning tartly though refrained from the speaking.

"I've got a few screws loose, but I'm a l'Cie same as you" said Fang honestly, turning back to face Lightning. "Difference being: _I wasn't born on Cocoon_; _I'm from Gran Pulse_." Lightning felt her eyes widen in amazement, _she was from Pulse_? It was too unbelievable.

"The 'world below' you all hate so much" Fang continued, with a slight mocking tone. "My partner and I'd turned to crystal there and gone to sleep, but when we came to: here we were.

"The reason Cocoon's in such an uproar is the same reason _you're_ here now: _Vanille and I woke up_."

Lightning felt her jaw drop, nor did she bother to hide it; Vanille, the air-head from the Hanging Edge was _Pulsian_? A faint hum met her ears and, unconsciously, launched out and arm that pushed Fang to the wall; Lightning pushed a finger to her lips, averting her gaze skyward. The duo was silent for a moment when a team of aerial troopers soared overhead.

"We've got to move, it's not safe here" said Lightning quickly; she charged forward dodging behind parked cars to avoid being seen. Crouching behind a particularly rank, dumpster, Lightning quickly stuck out her head to scout the area, and she could feel the lump grow in her throat: after leaving their current hiding spot, there would be nothing to shield them from the scouting soldiers. However, she did come up with a spur-of-the-moment idea involving a nearby bridge, it was a long shot but it had a good chance of working.

"Follow my lead" said Lightning quickly, pushing out of her crouch and running like a bat-out-of-hell towards the empty bridge. Taking hold of the railing with both hands, Lightning rocketed herself over the side. It wasn't a huge fall, school children could have jumped from something higher, but nevertheless Lightning and Fang hit the concrete ground and threw themselves underneath the bridge. Fang began to speak but Lightning hurriedly 'shushed' her.

The two women were ensconced in a stagnant silence for several moments before Lightning sighed in relief.

"Looks like we're in the clear" said Lightning calmly, before rounding on Fang "Talk…"

Fang looked taken aback by Lightning's sudden shift in demeanor and scratched her head.

"Well-_We've got time_!" Lightning snarled, seeing her attempt to avoid the subject; taking a seat on a nearby drainage pipe, Fang took a deep breath and began her story. Light listened to her incredible tale: both Pulsian women had lost their parents young and had become l'Cie to aid in the War of Transgression with the task of destroying Cocoon.

"When we came out of crystal stasis, we didn't remember our Focus _or_ what we'd done. All we could do was wander Cocoon looking for what we'd lost." Fang continued her explanation, regaling the pink-haired warrior with the events of Euride Gorge where a little boy was made into a l'Cie and (causing Lightning's stomach to tighten) a pink-haired girl who was transformed inside the vestige they'd awoken in.

"But it wasn't long after that we were found and attacked by military forces and I had to separate from Vanille, _to save her life_" said Fang as though she were justifying herself. "By the time I took care of them all, Vanille was long gone; after that, Raines and his cavalry found me.

"I never stopped searching for Vanille…but I couldn't find her" At last, Fang fell silent; Lightning paced slowly, absorbing all that she'd heard.

"So, you're telling me that Serah will come back to life too?" Lightning reflect as calmly as was possible.

"Yep" replied Fang optimistically; Lightning's heart leaped, The prospect of seeing her sister again gave her the hope she'd preached to her young comrade.

"Listen Lightning, I'm sorry about what happened to your sister" said Fang quietly, causing every muscle in Lightning's body to tighten "We didn't do our job right…_that's_ why it made her a l'Cie…_we messed up_."

Lightning halted in her pacing, stopping in front of her newest companion, and stared at her hard; Fang was looking down at her feet but soon enough, Light found herself staring into two dark emeralds. She did her best, though did a poor job by her own standards, at hiding the mixed feelings that bubbled in her gut, primarily disgust. Soon the aggravated beast roared and, in a move that was so fast it was almost autonomous, Lightning felt the dull sting against the back of her hand as she moved like her name an slapped Fang across the face.

"That it?" asked Fang surprised, though looking rather dumbstruck as she rubbed her cheek.

"You sure better hope so" said Lightning coldly, reigning back from her emotional outburst into her usual stoicism "but whether we're square…that's up to Serah."

Fang grunted "You sound exactly like Snow…and _he_ didn't hit me!" Lightning turned her back to the bronze-skinned woman after being compared to Snow, however, irritation welled up inside again as the words fully processed.

"Wait, he already knows this?" Lightning asked incredulously, folding her arms tightly.

"Wow," said Fang returning to her feet with a sigh "that's a load off, glad I apologized."

"_You apologized so you'd feel better_?"

"Guess so" said Fang simply "How about you, feel any better now that you hit me?"

Lightning huffed; the fact of the matter was, it did make her feel better though she begrudgingly admitted that even though that was the case, it still didn't change anything. With that, Fang let the subject drop, but not without a sarcastic quip about the pain in her jaw.

"Felix Heights is up there" said Lightning focusing her attention on the matter at hand "We've still got a ways before we get to Hope's place." She scanned the area looking for the next move; and then, _she saw it_. A gated bridge that would lead straight through the business district and immediately into the living districts; "We'll head through that gate" she said pointing to it in the distance.

"Right…" said Fang before charging off ahead; Lightning followed suit, doing her best to keep up with her companion, who was travelling with much longer strides. Returning to the empty street, the two women dashed around the building (carefully and stealthily dodging past a platoon of patrolling soldiers) and towards the bridge. Lightning released a controlled breath as she continued her run, her neck ceaselessly moving. Despite that last group of soldiers, the area was too quiet, and as soon as she'd thought this, Lightning came to a crashing halt by running into Fang. As she opened her mouth to inquire about the sudden pause, her eyes fell upon the reason: standing before them, snarling and dribbling saliva, was an acid green Behemoth.

The two women, acting on instinct, drew their weapons and charged the beast; dodging a swipe from its mighty claws, Lightning charged the electric energy from her chest into _Blazefire_ and swung downward with all of her strength. The Behemoth's head smashed mercilessly into the ground, however, it did not return to its feet because at the moment it collided with the ground, the head of Fang's spear crashed into its neck where bone connected to the base of the skull. The beast twitched once, and then a second time before becoming still in death.

"That was close" said Fang with a gruff laugh, pulling the communication device out of her bag, "Let's get Snow on the line." She put the device to her ear and was silent for a full minute before pulling it away in annoyance, "Damn thing's still jammed!

"Eh, Snow can take care of himself" she said calmly, pushing the device back into her bag.

"We'll just have to believe that" said Lightning, her voice filled with doubt. She had no doubt that Snow could take care of _himself_, but it was Hope she was concerned for and his deadly Operation: Nora.

"Hey Fang, the others are safe, right? I mean, if any of us got caught, they'd make an announcement" asked Lightning as calmly as she could muster but couldn't help the jittery feeling caressing her body.

"Yeah they would" said Fang matter-of-factly "They'd have to let everybody know that the big, bad can't hurt them no more." Fang sucked her teeth, "These Cocoon people-bunch of cowards and blowhards."

"These 'Cocoon people' have spent centuries under Fal'Cie law, in constant fear of a Pulse invasion" said Lightning quickly, though unbelievable that she would defend such things. It was true what Fang said, though Lightning believed that she only said such things likely out of pride of being generalized as cowardly. "If it wasn't for Serah, I'd have been out there too: hunting l'Cie…would have been nothing but targets to me."

"Well, Gran Pulse is just as twisted" replied Fang concurrently "'Cocoon's a floating nest of vipers, ready to strike.' Or, so I thought."

"So you became a l'Cie to fight off the 'vipers'? And destroying the nest is your-" Lightning caught herself before she made the mistake of pinning the entirety of the situation on Fang "-I mean, _our_ Focus now."

"Well, until we woke up here, we'd been in crystal stasis which means that we must've completed our first Focus…" Fang let out an aggravated groan "…why can't I remember that part? I mean, my childhood's clear as day but the one thing that I _need_-it's just gone!

"I reach for the memory but nothing's there!" she fell silent, a sad expression on her face. "Vanille and me, we lost our past and our Focus."

"And now, you want to find them?" asked Lightning slowly, comprehending all too well her comrade's situation, "Be a Pulse l'Cie: an enemy of Cocoon?" Lightning felt sadness wash over herself as well, Cloud's words from the Vile Peaks finally made sense to her. Suddenly, the realization hit her, they'd stayed put too long. "Hey, let's keep moving" she said, earning a nod from Fang.

"Pulse and Cocoon can rot for all I care" said Fang firmly "I'd tear down the sky if it'll save her." Lightning followed Fang's brisk walk, staring at her with a look of compassionate understanding: she felt the same way about Vanille that she, _herself_, felt about Serah.

The two women moved forward in silence for the longest time until Fang stopped so suddenly that Lightning ran into her again. "Hey Lightning…" called Fang though Lightning replied rather crossly

"Call me Light!"

"Did you see Vanille's brand?" The question caught Lightning off guard though she answered honestly with a shake of her head.

"No huh?" said Fang disappointedly, she around and said "If you want to know how long until it's Cie'th city, just look at your brand." As soon as she'd said it, the nagging curiosity burned at Lightning, until she turned away, unzipped her turtleneck and looked down. There it was. Marked on her skin, just above her left breast, was the brand that made her an enemy to her home.

"You start getting more arrows and then finally, an eye: once that opens, you're done" instructed Fang forebodingly. Lightning observed the ornate design of the mark, noting only a single arrow pointed downward but a relieving lack of anything eye-like.

"Let's have a look" said Fang quickly, earning her a look of surprise from Lightning "Don't be shy." Lightning felt a surge of heat cut across her face as the bronze-skinned woman examined her bare chest, though was relieved when she looked her dead and the eye and shook her head "Nowhere near, you've got time.

"Still you never know," continued Fang as Lightning zipped up her shirt "Some people, it doesn't take so long. You get a nasty shock it can actually speed up the process…Vanille's brand must be pretty far along by now. I've got to save her and get her home!"

"To Pulse you mean?" mused Lightning though it won her the irritable correction "To _Gran_ Pulse!"

"So that's your plan?" said Lightning, making the question more of a statement "Wish I had one. Without Serah, without a future, there's nothing to plan for: there's no way out of this mess, no way to fight it.

"I'm stuck trading blows with the Sanctum but _that's_ no plan; I mean, even if we tackle the government where does that leave us? With nothing to fight for, I might as well be dead." Lightning found herself reflecting the words Cloud had told her, what seemed like ages ago, so _this_ is what he meant: _this_ was the wisdom he was trying to impart on her.

"You've got plenty to fight for" said Fang encouragingly "Your sister and what about that spikey-haired guy who was travelling with you…don't you want to see either of them again?" Lightning stared at her. "_That's your future right there_! All you got to do is survive."

"Right" said Lightning pessimistically, though Fang did make some really good points; she was right! She couldn't give up just yet: she still wanted to talk to her sister again and hear her laugh but she also wanted to see Cloud again. She couldn't explain why, but there was just something about his reluctant leadership and blatant honesty with her that just made her want to be like him and the look he gave her, with those shining blue stars of his that sent chills down her spine.

Suddenly, there was a loud humming and a team of military hovercraft soared over head; "Snow!" cried Lightning disbelievingly as the horrible truth occurred to her.

"They found them!" said Fang; in the distance, a rooftop went up in a ball of fire, engulfing the still world in a thunderous 'BOOM!' The two of them exchanged looks of alarm and then took off without another word. Running down alleyways towards the target destination, Lightning drew _Blazefire_; turning their umpteenth corner, the two women ran into an squad of Guardian Corps soldiers.

"MOVE!" Lightning roared, swinging her sword and taking down the unsuspecting soldiers with hefty, albeit aggravated, swipes. Pushing past them without a second glance, Lightning proceeded up the stairs, skipping every other step to achieve faster movement. Keeping up with this activity, Lightning and Fang completed their long climb until they reached a wide courtyard, with a giant, heavily damaged military mech ("Subjugator-class by the look of it" noted Lightning) whirring threateningly on the ground and, standing alone, hailing the monstrous machine with thunderbolts, was Hope.

"Not bad kid!" Fang bellowed cheerily, drawing a look of relief from the young man.

"Where's Snow?" asked Lightning, fearing the worst as she noticed the warrior unconscious on the opposite end of the square.

"He's okay" said Hope turning his gaze back to the mech; "You sure you're up to this?" asked Fang as she twirled her spear. Lightning gripped _Blazefire_ tightly "The thing will never know what hit it!" she bellowed, reading herself for the battle.

"Hope, Fang: _Slash and Burn_!" ordered Lightning ferociously; Hope nodded, enveloping himself in navy blue rings, but Fang merely cocked an eyebrow.

"_What the hell is a Slash and Burn_?"

Lightning stared at her incredibly though wished she could retract the action, it wasn't Fang's fault that she wasn't aware of their system of phonetics. Changing the plans, ever so slightly, Lightning called out: "Hope, _Dualcasting_…Fang, full out!"

Flashing into her own deep blue cloak, she and Hope began a tag-team bombardment on the Subjugator, as Fang began ruthlessly beating the thing to a pulp. As they continued their merciless attack, several pockets opened up and the machine belched out a small rocket; "GET BACK" bellowed Lightning, grabbing Hope by the chest, but her world was thrown into chaos as sight and sound were taken over by a brilliant flash and a riotous roar. Throwing out her arm and, scraping her palm in the process, Lightning rolled into the fall and pushed herself back to her feet, ready for action.

"Hope, _Supersoldier_…Fang, think you can provide some cover?" She bellowed, watching from her peripherals as her comrades managed to their feet. As Hope glowed a familiar purple light, Lightning noticed, Fang flourish her spear before lowering it defensively, squaring her feet in a flash of bright gold. Flourishing her own weapon (evoking the mist of blood red), Lightning charged forward, feeling the enhancements of Hope's magic surround her. Taking advantage of the Subjugator's distraction (wailing on Fang with its tank-like arms), she launched her assault.

Swinging _Blazefire_ downward, Lightning scraped steel-against-steel with a loud screech; using the momentum of the spin, she then thrust the tip of her blade into the damaged armor. Pulling back into a powerful backflip, she dragged the penetrated blade upward digging in as far as she could go and then smacking the underside with her. Landing lightly and quickly moving into a wide-legged, sturdy stance, Lightning transmuted her sword into his gun-mode and blasted the mech's mask-like camera with a thunderous belch of fire; the mask cracked open violently as the camera-lens smashed.

The internal components of the Subjugator whined loudly before its legs gave out and it collapsed; the reflexive parts of the machine twitched several times before it became still at last. Lightning sighed in both relief and frustration, replacing _Blazefire_ into his holster: _her Omnislash was still not ready_. Turning towards Hope, she found, to her surprise, that he was holding out her bronze knife. Taking the weapon in her hand, she stared at Hope in amazement when he spoke calmly, the words Lightning had prayed to hear: "Operation: Nora, didn't work out."

Her lip quivered and then Lightning threw her arms around the boy's neck; she could feel his shoulders tense from shock. "You'll be okay" she promised quietly "I'll keep you safe."

"Lightning-" Hope started, paused and then replied encouragingly "I'll try to watch out for you too." Lightning released the boy's neck, grinned and lightly poked his forehead, causing Hope to chuckle.

"Don't forget about this one!" shouted Fang; Lightning and Hope turned to find her kneeling over the unconscious figure of Snow.

"That one will be all right…" chuckled Lightning simply, wrapping her arm around the giant man's waist, heaving his arm around her neck and pushing to her feet "…he's too stubborn to die." Hope took point, leading them up the next flight of concrete steps, while Fang took the rear to support Lightning, who was gingerly moving Snow's heavy form upwards.

"Here we are" said Hope quietly; as her line of sight cleared the final step, Lightning gained her first look at Hope's home. It was a beautiful circular building, the exterior made of steel and granite, save for the glass sunhouse off to the side. She watched anxiously as the silver-haired young man moved timidly towards the front door, wringing his hands nervously, before ringing the doorbell. Almost immediately, the door flew open and a bespectacled, brown-haired man in a dark suit came charging out; "Hope!" he said, shocked. Lightning assumed, without a doubt, that his was Hope's father.

The two conversed in hushed tones for several moments before the man gestured for them to enter. Sweat trickling down her aching back, Lightning hauled Snow into the house; Hope's father lead them down the hall and open a polished wooden door, "Bring him in here" he said gently. Lightning nodded appreciatively and lead him into the room.

It was a quaint little guest room, with a window leading to a magnificent view of the city during sunset. Leading him across the room, Lightning set him down on the bed and set to work, removing his trench-coat and ripping open his shirt to reveal his muscular, albeit battered and bruised, torso. Popping open her medical bag and pulling out a potion, Lightning uncorked the stopper with her thumb and (keeping his head elevated) put the bottle to his lips and lightly tipped the contents into his mouth. Putting down the crystal bottle, Lightning massaged his Adam's apple; he shuddered but smoothly ingested the liquid. Several of his more severe bruises turned from bluish-black to a dull yellowish, whilst his milder bruises vanished back into his fair skin tone. Lightning laid him back down and pulled out a roll of bandages, then proceeded to wrap his torso in the gauze. After putting down several layers of the fine white film, Lightning tied the material in a knot, just above his shoulder and stood back. Her medical experience was not as good as she might have liked, but she reckoned that she had done a fair nursing job.

_Roughly Twenty-five hundred civilians believed to come into contact with the l'Cie_, _are now being held in quarantine by the Sanctum_. _Our latest insta-poll has shown a vast majority in favor of the immediate Purging of these individuals_…

Lightning heard the report and moved towards it; between the cracks of the open door, she could see Fang, sitting on the couch with her legs crossed and staring at the television with a sour expression on her face as she listened to the News. Pulling out her knife, Lightning flicked open the blade and stared deeply into her reflection in the blade; it was disgusting at just how blind these people really were! There was a soft groan from the other end of the room; Lightning turned her gaze to find Snow beginning to stir.

"Lay down" said Lightning gruffly, snapping the knife closed; Snow looked around the room, registering his surroundings, before turning to Lightning with his usual good humor and flopped down with a small "All right."

"I see you took the kid's toy away" he said, as Lightning traced her finger across the surface of the knife.

"He gave it back to me" replied Lightning good naturedly "Said: _he didn't need it anymore_." She sighed soothingly "It was too much…" the words tumbled from her mouth quicker than she could stop them.

"…What happened to Serah," she clarified "All I could think about was 'What could I have done?' I hated myself for not trusting her…it hurt too much, I couldn't face it." Lightning found herself admitting all of this to Snow with therapeutic ease, something she'd never been able to do before _especially_ with Snow, of all people.

"Look Snow, I…" Lightning took a deep breath, pushing past the awkwardness of the moment and swallowing her pride she spit it out: "I'm sorry…forgive me."

Snow looked positively thunderstruck "For what?" he questioned softly.

"Everything" said Lightning quietly; "If you told me your real name, I suppose I could" said Snow jokingly, flashing her is usual grin. Despite herself, Lightning released a small grin "Have Serah tell you-when she comes back."

"Hey Light" said Snow (Lightning felt her fist clench at the use of her nickname, something she didn't like him using) "What happened to Cloud? I mean, he left just before we got there but I saw the carnage…what happened, where'd he go?"

Lightning's expression turned sad and she stared out the window. She explained as best she could what had happened but also had to admit that she hadn't an idea how or why. Snow listened intently but, to Lightning's surprise, he smiled.

"Well I wouldn't worry about it," he said calmly "I know we'll see him again." Lightning stared disbelievingly at him, Snow was always confident about things but about something like _this_?

"What makes you say that?" asked Lightning gently, truly intrigued to hear his answer. "I've still got to give it back to him…oh, there it is, good" said Snow with a breath of relief. Averting her gaze over to the far wall she saw Cloud's _Buster Sword_ leaning against the window frame; she stared at it for a moment before turning to him

"You kept it?" she asked incredibly; "I told him I'd stay alive so I could give it back" replied Snow pulling himself upward and reaching for his shirt. Lightning took hold of the velvety handle of the _Buster Sword_ and lifted the blade; she couldn't explain the feeling it gave her just to hold it but there was a heaviness to it that had nothing to do with physical weight. There was a knock at the door, Lightning turned to find Hope, red-eyed, standing in the door: "My dad says he'd like to see you guys…he wants to talk."

Lightning allowed Snow out of the room first, primarily to make sure he kept upright, watching him pull on his coat. The duo followed Hope down the hallway into the circular living room; sitting silently in the center of the leather couch was Hope's father while Fang sat silently against the wall (though Lightning noticed she was still shooting filthy looks at the, now, inactive television). Taking a spot next to her, Lightning pressed her back to the wall, her palms remaining firm on the pommel of Cloud's sword; however, her eyes widened with surprise at Snow collapsed onto all fours before Hope and his father.

"The blame is mine…" he said firmly "…I couldn't save her." Lightning watched as the man studied the blond warrior, though Hope did chip in that Snow had saved him.

"Did-Did Nora say anything to you?" replied the man in a slow voice.

"She said to…to get him home" replied Snow in a shaky voice. Lightning watched as Hope's father looked him over with as gentle a look that stern eyes could give and said, quite steadily:

"And that's exactly what you've done."

Lightning executed a private beam as Snow looked at him incredibly; "Face-to-face like this, it's hard to believe you're all _dangerous fugitives_" he said with a gentle tone, looking comfortingly towards all of his guests.

Snow pounded his fist against the floor in frustration, "The Sanctum's a puppet of the Fal'Cie!" he bellowed. "To them, our lives don't mean anything! But we'll stop this: take down the Sanctum _and_ save Cocoon!" Snow pumped his fist as he revealed his master plan to Hope's father, who sighed patiently and looked thoroughly unimpressed.

"You've thought that through?" he asked patiently "If l'Cie take down the Sanctum, fear of Pulse will only get worse and it won't stop there: _People will take up arms and stand against you_! Can you imagine it, the rampant violence?"

He spoke to Snow like a father mentoring his child's tantrum-like plan; Snow's face showed that he understood but Lightning could tell that he looked slightly deflated. "When the government's control is gone, the citizens will revolt" she concurred, earning her a look of approval from Hope's father.

"So what, we're supposed to just smile and eat a bullet?" snapped Fang bitingly, pointing a finger towards the brown haired man "That means you too!"

"I know I'm part of this" said Hope's father calmly, interlacing his fingers "I'm on your side of the fence: harborer of l'Cie _and_ a public enemy."

"Then…coming here was a bad idea" said Hope despondently, staring at his feet; "This is your home" his father replied, putting a comforting hand on his boy's shoulder. Lightning watched them with another private smile; the suited man rose to his feet, though keeping his hand on Hope's shoulder, "We're all here, let's figure this out together." Lightning nodded, though her thoughts remained: surely this wasn't the guy that Hope was so vindictive of…then again, times like this often changed people's opinions.

Suddenly the electricity died, showering them in darkness, and Lightning shot off the wall, gripping both _Blazefire_ and the _Buster Sword_ tightly. Her soldiers instincts flared up, and her infallible hearing alerted her of steps being taken on the roof; "HEAD'S UP!" she roared, as the skylight burst in a tinkle of glass and grenades bust open in a dense cloud of smoke. Shielding her eyes, which were already beginning to sting, she could hear the shattering of more glass as Shock Troopers began their invasion. Seeing their laser scopes bouncing off the smoke, Lightning flexed her arm struck one of them in the chin, dropping him like a rock; turning quickly on her heel, she smashed the blunt edge of the Buster Sword on top of another soldier's head, who hit the floor with a dull 'CRACK!'

Spinning around, Lightning's heart nearly stopped as she found a trooper who had passed her line of sight and was pointing his gun at Hope; however, he was saved as Fang planted her heeled boot in the back of his neck. As the smoke wafted out of the broken windows, Lightning ducked behind a wall and leaned her head around to scan the area but it was too dark to see very far. Suddenly, a bright light split across the darkness and showered them all in a distant heat; Lightning shielded her eyes from the ships spotlight.

Fang whistled sarcastically "Who ordered the battalion?" Lightning ignored her, too focused on the surrounding troops who were priming their weapons. At this rate, they would completely annihilate the building! Chaos erupted all around them as gun fire and screams arose from the outside; Lightning looked around the corner but saw nothing but more smoke, raising the question: _what the hell was going on_?

"We're leaving" Lightning barked loudly, turning to Hope (who was crouched beside his dad) "Hope, tie up your dad!" The young man stared at her as if she'd asked him to call his father a disgusting name, but nodded compliantly.

"We threatened you and forced you to help us…Got it?" Lightning said to Hope's father, who looked equally shocked.

"There must be something else—do what she says" Hope interrupted his father's protests. As the young man bound the suited man's hands, Lightning watched with a lump in her throat as father and son bade each other with a last minute pep talk each. After a last minute hug, Hope's father knelt down, with his back turned to the group; the silver-haired young man turned towards the group and nodded.

Lightning gripped her Blazefire Saber tightly, released a deep breath and threw herself from behind the wall (followed closely by her fellow l'Cie). However, they found the yard devoid of PSICOM soldiers and the airship that stared at them with its golden eye hovered placidly in the sky as it opened its hatches and deployed several soldiers. Squinting past the lights, Lightning noticed that the ship was not PSICOM at all…it was a Cavalry ship! The first soldiers hit the ground with a distinct 'THUMP' and removed his helmet to release a man with a full head of luscious brown hair.

"Hey Fang" said the man "Need a ride?"

To Lightning's surprise, Fang actually laughed "Don't get cute" she snapped playfully before turning to the group and waved her arm forward "Right, let's move it!" After ushering Snow forward, Lightning turned to find Hope staring back at the ruins that used to be his home. Placing a comforting arm around his shoulder, Lightning lead him towards the airship; however, before boarding, she cast on final look towards the light-tainted night sky where several powerful stars shone through the brightness. As she stared into the endless abyss, Lightning wondered with a sorrowful sigh, what in the world Cloud was doing at that moment?

**Okay guys, I know this one chapter was REALLY long (trust me, it was a doozy to write) but I hope this makes up for my four month absence. Anyway, I hoped you liked it, I'll try and get the next chapter up soon…and (I know I sound like a broken record) but PLEASE don't forget those reviews, I can't get better if you guys don't help me! Have a nice day :-)**


	9. Chapter 8 part 1

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

The airship: _Lindblum_. The vessel was as important as it was massive, serving as both the mother ship for the entire cavalry air-fleet (as well as their base) and the current base of operations for the rag-tag group of Pulse l'Cie. Lightning stared out with a childish astonishment as the gargantuan craft moved silently and stealthily through the clouds, guarded all around by its usual fleet of fighters. She turned her back on the extraordinary scenery and returned to the current situation inside the conference room, where Hope and Snow (Cloud's sword strapped to his back) were still reviewing the system of phonetics that he, Cloud and herself had developed whilst Fang spoke openly with the man from the previous night.

Lightning almost felt ashamed for not recognizing the man on the spot: Guardian Corps captain Rygdea, the man made infamous for (ironically) his kindness and his lethality, as well as his narcissism. Lightning chuckled softly: she almost felt ashamed, _almost_ being the key word. Turning her attention from her thoughts on the soldier and back to the matter at hand, Lightning began preparing herself for the next chapter of their mission. It was simple: they merely had to locate and procure the safety of the remaining l'Cie, Sazh and Vanille.

The door to the conference room slid open with the hiss of compressed air and in stepped a handsome man clad in a white uniform (with a snowy cape draped over his left arm), a head of long, jet-black hair (pulled into a ponytail) and a set of piercing gold eyes. Now this was a man that Lightning could easily recognize (primarily due to the sky blue stripes forming V's on either of his shoulders): Brigadier General Cid Raines, the Cavalry commander and the youngest in Cocoon history. The man's achievements at such a young age had made him almost as famous as Cloud (again, _almost_ was the key term)!

"Greeting's" he said in a slow, calm voice that could have rivaled that of Hope's father though his expression was grim "It would appear that we have stumbled upon a problem." He flicked on the tele-screen where a News reporter was delivering her big broadcast, as an ominous, bird-like airship emerged from a mammoth tuft of cloud-cover:

_There she is_, _the_ Palamecia, _pride of the Sanctum Sky fleet_! _This mighty flagship currently serves as a prison for the l'Cie apprehended in Nautilus_; _the l'Cie will face official sentencing upon the convoy's arrival in the capital_. _In a display of unwavering dedication to duty the Primarch himself has boarded the_ Palamecia _and focused his personal attention on resolving the Pulse crisis_.

Lightning folded her arms as she listened; their mission had suddenly taken a drastic turn away from simple.

"So what's with the freak show?" asked Snow bitingly, as he stared at the screen furiously.

"So the Primarch can stand in judgment of the villainous l'Cie with their execution as the climax" replied Raines calmly, though his voice radiated with a subtle acidity. "The people will cheer their demise and Fal'Cie dominion will be undisputed." Lightning scoffed, _all part of the plan_ she though darkly.

"They're baiting us" said Fang, as Raines turning off the large screen with a whack of his thumb "Trying to draw us out."

"Yeah that's right" said Lightning sarcastically "'Here are your friends, _come and get them_'!"

"Well if they're daring us to mount a rescue, I'll take that action all in!" said Snow, bashing his fists together in confidence. Raines chuckled and continued the briefing,

"The PSICOM fleet has us under surveillance, while they're busy watching the Lindblum, you four will slip aboard the Palamecia. When the time is right, our brigade will launch an all-out assault to back you up." The four l'Cie nodded in agreement.

"All righty!" cried Rygdea cheerfully "Bets are on the table; we'll leave when you're ready, I'll be standing by." With that the man, ducked out of the room and disappeared.

Raines followed shortly after; Lightning watched him leave with a look of sad nostalgia. She wished her Captain was here, to give her strength and confidence; she'd even gone so far as to entertain some naïve fantasy that Cloud might have encountered the fleet and was somewhere aboard the ship, but was met with in disappointment after explaining the situation to Raines. Lightning sighed, putting the spikey-haired man out of her mind and putting it back on rescuing Sazh and Vanille. The l'Cie gathered together and began their planning; armed with a new set of phonetic paradigms, Lightning reviewed what they'd come up with:

The strike team, consisting of Hope, Snow and herself, would act as the primary force aboard the vessel whilst Fang undertook the role of back-up and scout.

"Everyone ready?" inquired Lightning sharply, gaining her approving grunts from her friends "Then let's go!" Tromping out of the room and heading into the large steel hangar, where they found Rygdea; the brown-haired soldier noticed their approached and appeared to have guessed their purpose from the look on Lightning's face.

"This baby back here's a PSICOM vessel" he said gesturing towards a small, scarlet aircraft "It'll take you to the Palamecia."

"Oh, we're cargo now?" Snow laughed; Rygdea laughed heartily in return. "A parting gift to our rotting government, take those PSICOM guys apart!" the man cheered.

"And we're supposed to take on _all of them_?" spat Lightning incredulously "I think the whole division's onboard!"

"I don't care how many lackeys they've got" said Fang with bravado "Bring 'em on! Vanille's in there!"

"I'm sure she's fine," said Hope encouragingly "Vanille's tougher than I could ever be."

Lightning turned to her silver-haired companion, noting the nervousness in his voice; "You scared?" she asked him gently.

"Yeah, I'm terrified" replied Hope, mimicking his father's calm demeanor "But I'll be okay, because I have you, Fang and _this guy_" he said jokingly, jabbing a finger towards Snow. "We're all in this mess; we've got to stick together." Lightning stared down at him proudly; he'd changed so much from the terrified little boy from the Hanging Edge who held a vendetta against his father.

"All right," called Rygdea, "Enough of the bonding: it's go time!" Lightning followed him as he guided them towards the airship. The group piled into the cargo hold, which revealed the fighter to be much more claustrophobic than it initially appeared, with their brown-haired ally taking to the cockpit.

"Ladies and Gentlemen this is your captain speaking" Rygdea shouted jokingly towards the back, "Please remember to keep all trays in their upright positions, fasten your seatbelts and enjoy your flight: in three…two…one!" The airship took off at a neck-breaking speed, throwing the four l'Cie piling on top of each other; Lightning groaned, gingerly touching where the top her head had collided quite heavily with Snow's but fell silent as a voice wafted from the front that was clearly not Rygdea's.

_Standby, verifying identification code_, said the bridge officer monotonously.

"You let me land this bird or I'll crash her into your ass!" barked the Captain impatiently; Lightning furrowed her eyebrows as she shot Rygdea a glare of annoyance: tact was obviously not his middle name! The cabin was silent for several seconds before the monotonous voice returned.

_Code verified, you're free to dock_.

"About damn time" said Rygdea, giving his passengers the thumbs up. Lightning breathed a sigh of relief though, unfortunately, for them: _that_ was the easy part. The brown-haired captain smoothly sailed them into the docking bay, where they came to a shuddering halt; the four l'Cie clambered out of the airship. Lightning gave the captain a halfhearted wave (who saluted in return) before the turbines of the vessel came back to life with a whine and he was gone.

The group took several steps into the bowels of the ship when suddenly an alarm began blaring: _CODE RED_, _CODE RED_, _ATTENTION ALL CREW_: _THIS IS NOT A DRILL_, _CODE RED_!

"_That was fast_" thought Lightning sarcastically, taking a hold of _Blazefire's_ handle, though kept him comfortably in his holster.

"All right, let's tear them up!" said Snow, performing his usual self fist bump.

"We're here for Vanille and Sazh, stay focused!" snapped Lightning, flicking her wrist forward and sending Fang charging forward.

The exterior deck of the mammoth airship was an invariable maze, filled with wrong turns and many patrolling troops, looking for the invading force (whatever it maybe). Noting that Fang had paused, she slowed down next to her; Fang was silent in a studious way before turning to her pink-haired friend and jabbed her finger upward. Diverting her gaze upward, Lightning traced the outline of a pair of iron pillars, connected to a balcony high above them. Turning back to Fang, she nodded in playful challenging; Lightning pushed upward and, using her natural acrobatic skill, she pushed off the pillar into a controlled skyrocket. Repeating the action several more times, Lightning pulled herself onto the top platform with a flourishing front flip and landing as gracefully as a cat. As Fang climbed over the edge with equal mastery, she grinned at Lightning, clearly impressed; Lightning returned the sentiment with a small, pleased grin and then moved over to the control panel, summoning a long, metal gondola towards them.

"Hurry up you two!" called the bronze-skinned woman over the edge of the metal balcony to Snow and Hope, both of whom were beginning to lag behind. As both men clambered over the railing, huffing deeply, Lightning led them onto the gondola, though her stomach lurched along with the long metal platform that carried them upwards. Coming to another halt, some several decks higher, she stepped off of the gondola and back onto the metal walkway when, suddenly, Lightning had the unnerving feeling that something was waiting for them, _something bad_!

Reaching the end of the road, she scanned the area: "_All right Farron_, _what's the next step_?" she thought to herself.

"Way ahead of you" said Fang appearing to read Light's mind, and gestured towards a bridge off towards the east of their position. Lightning nodded in concurrence and gestured for Fang to resume point. Pushing off into a run, she looked all around, the sickening thought coursing through her mind: for code red, the place was way too placid. Where were the guards? Where was _any_ form of resistance? It was almost as if they weren't meant to be stopped but were being guided forward.

Crossing the bridge and entering into a new section of the ship, Lightning threw herself against the wall, an action that she subconsciously knew that her comrades imitated.

"Let us through! Block our way, you die!" Snow bellowed, his voice reverberating across the empty corridor. Lightning stared at him with a look of utter astonishment and humiliation; however, appearing to read her mind again, Fang got to him first and smacked him upside the head.

"_ARE YOU TRYING TO GET THEM ANGRY_?" she hissed; "I thought, maybe, they'd run, there's been enough blood spilled" Snow shrugged, rubbing the back of his head tenderly.

"_You thought they'd run_?" asked Lightning incredulously "Let me refresh your memory: those soldiers think they're protecting Cocoon from l'Cie: the Fal'Cie have them all brainwashed!"

"Fal'Cie…" Snow bashed his fist against the steel wall angrily "…I have had it! We cannot let this go on!" Lightning sucked her teeth impatiently, hoping Snow would have had something better to say other than the obvious!

_ATTENTION ALL CREW_: _CODE GREEN_! _REPEAT_: _CODE GREEN_! _SECURITY FORCES STAND BY_…_HOSTILE FORCES ONBOARD_, _CODE GREEN_! The voice over the intercom roared loudly.

"Let's move" Lightning ordered! Charging forward, the group turned the corner and ran smack into the missing guards. Inside the cramped corridor was enough soldiers and battle mech's to fill the entire space; there was the menacing sound of collective weapons priming (Lightning made a quick mental note to smack Snow herself if they got through this). "_AGGRESSION_!" she roared; she and Snow burned coats of fiery red while Hope glowed a dark navy.

_Blazefire_ 'clanged' loudly with the baton of the first soldier…it collided pitilessly with this next soldiers weapon. Twisting on her heel, Lightning drove into a powerful spin attack, smashing into the helmets of three soldiers, who dropped like stones but were quickly replaced by the overwhelming horde of soldiers.

"We don't have time for this Light," barked Fang, twirling her spear before jabbing it into the head of the Viking-type battle mech. Lightning switched her weapon into his gun-mode and burped a thunderous blast of fire into the face of some unfortunate soldier, Fang was right!

"Everyone, new plan!" she roared over the chaos towards Snow, who was bashing in skulls with his fists, and Hope, who was summoning large orbs of fire, water and ice on his enemies. "Cut down-" she blocked a female soldier's attack "-anyone in-the way-" She thrust the tip of her, newly transformed, sword into her gut "-_JUST RUN_!"

Grabbing hold of Hope's shoulder and swinging _Blazefire_ madly, Lightning charged through the hordes, guarded from the rear by Hope's mastery of magic. Seeing a break in the massive group of soldiers, Lightning cut her way through towards it; driving her elbow into the face of one soldier dumb enough to seize a handful of her hair and burying three inches of steel into the visor of a Viking mech, Lightning finally freed herself and the silver-haired youth from the mosh pit of soldiers. Turning back to face the multitude, she blocked another soldier's attack, but looked passed the awkward angle of his arm, to find Snow and Fang still trapped among the masses and being pushed backward! However, Hope stepped forward and, with a massive wave of his arms, parted the massive group with a powerful blast of wind; the soldier locked in a grapple with Lightning lost his focus and turned observe what had happened, giving Lightning enough time to smash him on the back of the head with Blazefire's pommel. As Snow and Fang fought their way over towards them (taking time to kick several downed soldiers) Lightning merely repeated her previous command:

"RUN!"

The four of them did just that, running as hard as they could as fast as they could pausing only to slam shut doors for blockage. Pushing her legs down the empty hallway, Lightning trailed after the others, who ducked to the right, gesturing her to follow. Feeling the frigid blast of wind caress her sweat-soaked skin, she escaped the steel corridor as Snow and Fang slammed the door shut. Lightning doubled over, her leg muscles aching; pushing herself upright again, she found three things to be happening: the first, was Hope lecturing Snow ("Why don't you just use that thing!" he bellowed referring the massive sword on the warriors back who responded with an excuse that it wasn't his to use). The second was the therapeutic moment when Lightning acted on her mental note and stung the palm of her hand as it collided with the back of Snow's bandanna. The third and most disturbing of the trio, judging from the decrease in cool air against her sweaty skin; Lightning came to the conclusion: _they were decelerating_!

"They up to something?" she wondered out loud, quickly revealing her observations to the group.

"I don't suppose it could be, I don't know, good luck?" asked Snow bluntly; however as soon as he had said something, several winged beasts flew overhead.

"_That_ looks a lot more like _bad luck_" said Fang sarcastically; taking a deep breath and readying herself for more running, Lightning charged forward. Whatever part of the ship they were on: was more of a nightmare than the maze-like walkways of the cargo bay and the entire hall filled with soldiers, as this section was laced with flaps that would randomly drop open, nearly sending both Hope and Fang plummeting to their doom, twice!

Vaulting over some of the kamikaze pumps that kept the ship airborne, the group had finally come across sturdy, level ground (a fact that Lightning was very thankful for). Sprinting across this haven of normality, Lightning came to a sudden halt as their way was immediately impeded by a gargantuan winged-beast.

"_EVENED ODDS_!" roared Lightning; there was a rainbow of colors, primarily green, white and purple as the party changed into their first battle formation. The trio danced around the deck, Hope enhancing them with thunderbolts that prickled the skin but did not harm them, Snow casting enervating spells on the monster whilst Lightning made sure none of them took any serious damage. As a familiar, hexagonal shield rose in front of her, the beast twisted violently, slapping all of them with its tail; however, the damage had been greatly lessened from the combination of Snow and Hope's magic.

"_RELENTLESS ASSAULT_!" Lightning barked to her allies; she and Hope flashed from their respective colors into the deep cobalt cloaks, whereas Snow raged from his grey aura into a shroud of blood red. The duo of sorcerers bombarded the beast in a shower of fire, ice, water and thunder and the tall warrior smashed it with ghostly black pearls. With appearances being deceptive, the intimidating winged-beast dropped the ground, and slid off the side of the airship, disappearing from sight.

However, she couldn't sigh in relief as another monster, identical to the one they had just slain, flew overhead, blasting the wall behind them with a bolt of lightning.

"ANOTHER ONE?" cried Hope incredulously.

"One big fat stroke of luck after another" said Snow sarcastically "_I'm so happy I could cry_!" However, the beast merely flew over them and disappeared around the bridge; Fang and Snow barked insults and challenges towards the dead air.

Eyebrows furrowed, Lightning prepared to pursue the creature when a curious sound crossed her ears: the soft chirping of a very familiar bird! Turning her gaze in the direction of the noise, she was in time to open her palm and provide a landing place for a fidgety, golden Chocobo chick. Following its path, Lightning only found the hole blasted into the side of the ship, where (coughing and choking on smoke), lo and behold, the fiery-head of Vanille and the poufy-haired pilot, Sazh stumbled out into the sunlight.

"There you are!" Snow let out a roar pleasure upon seeing his comrades again. Sazh grinned broadly and waved "Miss me?"

"VANILLE!" "FANG!" The voices of the two Pulsian women carried sharper than any blade; Lightning turned and was in time to watch as they reunited in a tight, sisterly hug. However, Fang quickly released Vanille, dropped to her knees and lifted Vanille's skirt (Lightning hurriedly spun her three male companions around).

"_You've still got time_" Fang breathed in relief; Lightning noticed that as Vanille looked ready to reluctantly protest it was Sazh that won her attention.

"Wait a second, we're one person short" he said staring at the group, then turning around a full three hundred-sixty degrees "_Where's Cloud_?" Lightning's eyes dropped to the ground, sadly before admitting to him:

"Long story, we'll tell you later."

"Okay…so, what's on the agenda?"

"Toppling the Sanctum" said Snow brightly; Sazh laughed uncomfortably "No, I mean really."

"He's serious" said Lightning, folding her arms across her chest "We're going to take down the Sanctum and give Cocoon back to the people…the Fal'Cie have called the shots long enough!"

"Yeah but if we pull _this_ off, it'll be a miracle" chimed Hope.

"Well, it's a good thing lady luck's on _our_ side." Almost immediately after she'd spoken, the electric yellow monster flew overhead, letting loose it's earsplitting shriek. "Check this out: a miracle, _Gran Pulse style_!"

The two women charged forward; Fang launched herself high into the air whilst Vanille threw out her arms and trapped the winged monster in the lines of her fish-pole wand. Fang crashed back to the ground, spearing the monster directly in the base of the neck, pinning it to the ship. She turned back to the group and waved victoriously. Lightning snapped out of her dumbfounded gawk as Vanille ran past, crying: "Let's get on!" Charging forward, Lightning had the creepy sensation of being watched trickle down her spine again; wheeling around and scanning the deck, she found nothing yet again. Casting one final cautious look around, Lightning flipped around and rejoined the others.

Sliding down onto the beasts neck, between the two youngest members of their band, and curling her arms around its rudder-like wing, Lightning was barely able to keep herself upright as Fang kicked the beast with a loud "_HE_-_YA_!"

The winged monster flapped its wings powerfully, surging upward and flying wildly; Sazh screamed loudly.

Getting her wits about her, Lightning turned to the find the aerial troops of the Palamecia returning to the ship and the mass that was the Lindblum disappear into the clouds.

"Believe in Lady Luck now?" Fang bellowed over the howling wind, although flaps in the roof of the ship opened to reveal menacing machine guns, primed and ready to fire.

"YEAH: LADY-_BAD_-LUCK!"

Drawing _Blazefire_, Lightning fired several bursts, though they did very little against the massive amounts of gunfire that came in return. The beast dipped low as it became a martyr, defending them from gunfire, dragging its tail along the hull of the airship, ripping it open with a loud scrapping of metal. Seeing the hole that their steed had opened for them, and its proximity to the ship's bridge, Lightning replaced _Blazefire_ in his holster and pushed herself off the side of beast and began her long plummet downwards.

"TIME TO PURGE A PRIMARCH!" she could hear Snow bellow as he followed her; her vision faded as her lungs inhaled large quantities of smoke, entering the new porthole. Missing her Grav-Con Unit, Lightning tucked herself into a ball (in attempt to roll into the impending collision) but all disappeared as a dull pain shocked her body.

…

Lightning's eyelids flickered open, a dull pain reverberating throughout her skull and shoulder; pushing herself upright, Lightning found herself in a massive, dark room (the only light coming from their makeshift entrance) and a single downward path leading to their destination: the bridge. five allies lying unconscious all around her. Taking hold of Fang and Sazh's shoulders and giving them a hearty shake and their eyes flew open without hesitation.

"Dysley's through there" she said, seeing out of the corner of her eye that the others were coming around.

"Yeah," said Sazh groggily "and if he's in there, then so is Nabaat." Lightning turned to him, an incredible look in her eyes; "What? Did you think the Primarch personally captured us?"

"An added bonus" said Snow confidently punching his knuckles together. "Let's give her one for Cloud, eh?" he said, casting a look towards Lightning. She nodded, feeling the silent pain in her hands as she popped her knuckles: _she was going to give her more than just one_! Taking off down the walkway, Lightning could make out in the distance the sealed entrance to the bridge.

"Care to do the honors Hope?" asked Lightning taking hold of her gunblade; feeling the heat arise from the softball-sized fireball growing in the boys hand, he launched it forward and it's atomic force blasted the massive door open with an earsplitting screech! Pushing her legs forward, and keeping _Blazefire's_ head downward, Lightning lead the charge into the equally large bridge; inside, in the center of all of the crewmen keeping the ship aloft was an elderly man clad in white clerical robes and a familiar blonde-haired woman in a long forest green greatcoat.

"BEEN LOOKING FOR _YOU_ NABAAT!" bellowed Sazh angrily, voicing the opinions of several of his comrades. Lightning stared hatefully at the Lieutenant Colonel, gripping her weapon tightly, what she was about to do now would not only satisfy her personal loathing of her, but also get revenge for the lies she'd fed to Cloud!

Standing back-to-back, Lightning and Sazh pointed the business end of their weapons at Nabaat's chest as she stood before the Primarch holding out a metallic-purple baton.

"You're Eminence please escape" she said calmly "I will cover your retreat!"

To Lightning's surprise, Dysley sighed but remained where he was; "Why don't _you_ leave, Jihl…" he said with a voice as cold as ice "…or rather: _take your leave_; Humans have no business here!"

As Nabaat turned to question him, Lightning watched in both shock and horror as the Lieutenant Colonel's back erupted into a gory mist and she fell to the ground, never to move again.

Lightning stared from her corpse and then back to Dysley, who held his staff aloft and an evil smile on his face; _What the hell was going on_? _And how did the Primarch just use magic_? Suddenly, the elderly man rose high into the air, his staff glowed a disturbing bluish purple and with a hefty wave of his arm, several beams burst from the top of his wand, each striking down a member of the ship's crew!

"Sazh!" Lightning bellowed; priming _Blazefire's_ gun-mode at the Primarch, her sense of sound became lost in the wave of screams and gunfire. However, a dark mist began to envelope the area around the elderly psychopath, growing larger in size and more consistently splotchy.

"Hold fire!" Lightning shouted, holding an arm before Sazh and the gunfire immediately died; she stared in terror as their collective bullets sat serenely in midair, before they dropped harmlessly to the ground!

"Monster!" roared Snow angrily "People are not yours to use!"

Dysley hovered slowly towards the ground before touching down lightly; he held out his arms in supposition "What else does one do with tools?"

Snow darted past Lightning, releasing a furious yell but he was blasted roughly backwards as he collided with the Primarch's shield magic. Lightning turned to him only to find that the only real damage had been to his pride.

"Cocoon is a factory built by Fal'Cie" Dysley continued his sinister rant "A factory for the mass production of human thralls."

"Not anymore it's not!" snarled Snow; Lightning rolled her eyes privately, his heart and tone were in the right place but his face showed the obvious confusion as to what on earth a 'thrall' was.

"What can mere men do?" chided Dysley "Without our help, death is all of which you are capable. _You saw the fools_: a mindless mob, drunk on fear of a few l'Cie!"

"If they only knew a l'Cie was the one filling their glasses!" she shot back hotly, raising _Blazefire's_ blade. By this point, Lightning had had enough of all of the talk, however, there was something he said that sent an unnerving chill down her spine. What did he mean when he said: Without _our_ help?

Dysley chuckled evilly "l'Cie…you mean me?" he questioned mockingly "Oh child, perish the thought…I am more than that!" Dysley rose into the air again, his staff shining as brightly as the sun; raising her arms, Lightning shielded her eyes from the blinding light. However, as soon as it had come, the brilliance was gone; Light dropped her arms and, for the first time in her life, knew true horror!

Dysley had transformed into a towering monster, his now bronze skin was lined with golden markings. His mammoth head sat menacingly on a long, snake-like throat (out of which protruded two, gorilla-ish arms) with four mask-like faces adorned on the sides of his dark headpiece. He stared down at them with soulless pale eyes and bared his dagger-like teeth in an eerie grin:

_I AM FAL'CIE_! He said in a deep voice that sounded as though multiple people spoke at once. _MY NAME IS BARTHANDELUS: VOICE OF THE SANCTUM AND LORD-SOVEREIGN OF THE COCOON FAL'CIE_! _YOUR KIND FEARED THE DARKNESS AND WE GAVE YOU LIGHT_. _YOU BEGGED US FOR THE PURGE AND DID IT NOT COME TO PASS_? _NOW YOU SPURN OUR COUNSEL_, _YOU MUST LEARN YOUR PLACE_!

Though fear appeared to paralysis her senses, Lightning's body moved automatically into its battle stance. Barthandelus waved his beastly hand, enveloping them in a blast of cold air; as the wind died, Lightning stared at her enemy, whatever he did she sure couldn't see it!

"What the hell?" Lightning wheeled around to find Hope and Snow banging a bright red barrier that had locked Sazh, Vanille and Fang out of the conflict. Gripping her sword so tightly that her knuckles turned white, Lightning's eyebrows furrowed in a fiery anger: they'd already defeated one Fal'Cie and that gave her the confidence to think that they could do it again!

"_Guerilla_!"

Lightning charged towards the mammoth Fal'Cie, burning in her deep cloak of navy blue. Swinging _Blazefire_ with all of her strength, she struck Barthandelus bronze face twice with an electric, magically charged, blade; all the while feeling Hope's magic make her stronger and visibly seeing Snow's magic making their enemy weaker. Putting a hand to her chest and then launching it out, she bombarded the mammoth with orbs of water; however, Barthandelus laughed manically and began lobbing bolts of fire, water, ice and lightning at her. Lightning used her natural agility to her advantage, dancing around his attacks and sneaking in a few swings of her own.

"_Relentless Assault_!" She called back to Snow and Hope. Leaping backward, Lightning watched as Snow charged forward, brutally smashing his fists into the metallic face; turning towards her young friend (who nodded confidently) and they began hailing Barthandelus with the same combination of elemental magicks. However, as the duo finished their attack, Lightning stared in horror as Barthandelus laughed again and he appeared no more damaged than before.

"Light watch out!" screamed Hope; Lightning felt the pressure take her hips and drag her to the ground. Suddenly the world exploded in a deafening clap of thunder as a gargantuan bolt of lightning struck the metal ground where the pink-haired l'Cie had been standing moments earlier.

"This is ridiculous!" Snow roared furiously "How do we kill something that doesn't get damaged?"

Lightning gnashed her teeth in frustration, how _were_ they supposed to fight him? At least with the Fal'Cie Anima they could pinpoint the weakness but for Barthandelus, that didn't appear to be the case! Just then, the thought sparked an idea and her eyes began scanning, subconsciously launching a golf ball-sized fireball at the great metal face. It bounced harmlessly off, and the headdress began its four-person barrage of magic; however, Lightning noticed that each of the mask-like faces appeared to cringe in pain after the fact.

"_AGGRESSION_!" Lightning bellowed, leaping to her feet "ATTACK THE HEADDRESS!" They had been attacking the wrong target, how could she have been so blind?

Blazing into a familiar cloak of crimson and evading Barthandelus magic, Light twisted on her heel and dragged _Blazefire_ mercilessly across the mask on the far left. Skidding to a halt, the palm of her hand facing outward, she ejaculated a dark pearl from her hand; the pearl smashed into the headdress and the mask shattered like glass. Twisting into her next assault, Lightning slashed downward, she repeated the action upwardly, threw the tip of her sword downward again and then, pushing into a powerful backflip and transforming her weapon, filled the second face with lead. Pushing over to the other side, ducking under Snow's flurry of martial arts, she spun into another spiral attack, striking both masks; shifting _Blazefire_ back into his gun-mode, Lightning squeezed the trigger and shattered her third mask with a hearty burp of fire. Reacting on instinct Lightning shot out an arm, halting Snow's next attack, and threw the two of them to the ground, evading the soft-ball sized fireball that tore away the rest of the Fal'Cie's adornment with atomic force. Leaping to her feet, Lightning cast a nod towards Hope (who shook his and rigorously from the heat of his magic).

Barthandelus laughed, shrugging off his destroyed headdress, before turning back to them with his Cheshire cat grin of daggers; his giant bronze face split open like an eggshell, revealing the multitude of cannons, burning hot and ready to fire.

"GET DOWN!" Lightning thundered; taking Snow by the scruff of his neck and forcing him down again, Lightning felt the heat of the fire soaring over her head, way too close for comfort. Keeping her hand firmly on Snow's neck, even after the blast faded (showering them in a rush of cool air) and waited; suddenly, she felt it: the barrage of magic, from her young counterpart. Taking away her hand and nudging Snow in the ribs, Lightning gave the man his cue; the tall man shot up, punching and kicking with all of his might. Transforming her weapon into his gun-mode for a third time, Lightning pushed herself to her feet and (using Snow a stepstool), rocketed into the air; pointing her gunblade directly between Barthandelus eyes, Lightning squeezed the trigger, and a thunderous roar struck the Fal'Cie.

Barthandelus roared in anger and frustration; suddenly, his massive head collapsed onto the floor and did not move again, sunlight bouncing off of its body as he slowly went from bronze to translucent. Returning _Blazefire_ to his holster, Lightning allowed the beast in her chest to roar in triumph as the group of six reunited.

"A Fal'Cie running the Sanctum…" said Snow rubbing his fists, the disgust was evident in his voice.

"As I said…" the voice cut across the air, harsher than any weapon "…I am Lord-Sovereign!" From the vanishing mass that was Barthandelus appeared the form of Galenth Dysley, holding his staff aloft as if their battle had never happened. Lightning gripped _Blazefire_ tightly, repositioning back into her battle stance; apparently, this Fal'Cie was a tougher son-of-a-bitch than the one from the Hanging Edge.

"You have not fought to win" said Dysley, his voice filled with contempt "You should know quite well already, the sure way of dispatching our kind: _Ragnarok_!"

"What the hell is Ragnarok?" hissed Fang, spitting like an angry cat; Dysley pointed a finger at all of them

"Ragnarok is the beast one of you must become in order to lay waste to Cocoon!" Lightning stared at him incredibly, that couldn't be right: that could not have been what their Focus was meant to be.

"_No_!" she thought viciously "_It's a lie_! _Just more Fal'Cie lies_!"

Suddenly, Dysley vanished, though his voice continued "You have had the dream, one among you will become that monstrosity, defeat Orphan and destroy Cocoon!"

Lightning's eyebrows furrowed as Dysley's words registered in her mind; "_Orphan_?"

"The font of Eden's power" Dysley explained, appearing before her and causing Lightning to jump. "Orphan fuels Eden with strength and Eden, in turn, sustains you and the rest of your kind. Destroy Orphan and you'll unleash a force such as this world has never seen: Cocoon will be torn asunder!

"Not only:" his voice taking an acidic turn as if he were persuading children "If you defeat Orphan, your focus will be fulfilled."

"SO WHAT?" Lightning shot defiantly, slashing at Dysley only to miss as he evaporated like a wisp of smoke. "Who says it has to be!"

Snow walked past her, and he held out his arm. Lightning squinted to find a small, sky-colored crystal in the shape of a tear sitting placidly in the palm of his hand.

"Serah asked us to save Cocoon before she turned to crystal" he shouted with equal confidence, "_Save it_! And that's what we're gonna do! Serah was trying to tell us how to complete our Focus and we have-"

Dysley laughed condescendingly, "Allow me to help you see the truth of things: the moment you arrived your friend wept crystal tears. This was because her Focus required that you be brought together. That girl did nothing but assemble the tools for Cocoon's destruction!"

Lightning felt as though she'd swallowed a lemon; that couldn't be true, _it just couldn't be_. Looking over towards her friend, she found that Snow looked different than a few moments ago: he looked crushed, and broken.

"Did it never occur to you?" questioned Dysley forcefully, stamping on the battered emotions of the tall fighter, "Or did you simply refuse to countenance the thought? If you will not face the truth then you will face the peril of your plight!"

The Primarch raised his staff above his head and the mighty airship gave a lurch; suddenly, the glass ceiling parted, revealing the frigid passing of wind of the blue sky. Lightning averted her gaze upward and found another airship, this one large enough for personal usage; turning her sight back to the problem at hand, she joined in on the group gasp as their enemy had vanished.

"Run l'Cie! See how stark reality is!" Dysley's phantasmal voice echoed throughout her mind faster than any bolt of celestial thunder but, like her namesake, as quickly as it had come, it was gone. The Palamecia gave another spine-tingling lurch and then, to Lightning's utter horror, she realized that the nose of the giant airship was no longer moving forward…it was going down!

"COME ON!" She roared, taking Snow by the shoulder and leading the group to the escape vessel. Pushing him onboard, Lightning stayed to assist her fellow l'Cie, quickly lifting them up and booting them on. As Fang bypassed her altogether with a mighty leap, Lightning threw herself onto the airship and slammed the hatch shut. Turning to the pilot, she bellowed:

"GO!"

Upon command, Sazh punched in the controls and the airship jumped into the air, out of the massive exit (courtesy of Barthandelus magic) until they began a stomach plummeting dive.

"Oh this is bad! The yoke's jammed!" Sazh screamed, fighting the immobile control stick (Snow muttered darkly "I knew it was a trap").

"SOMETHING'S COMING!" Hope shouted; following his finger, Lightning found it: a fighter, making full steam towards them, a single rocket from its wing.

"Hang on!" said Snow quickly; taking his advice, Lightning braced herself on the seat but let out a grunt as the missile exploded, mid-air and sending them into a frantic spin. However, the masterful work of their pilot quickly brought them upright again.

Lightning turned to compliment the pilot but him scratching his afro: "What the hell kind of ship is this?" he wondered aloud "_Flying on its own_?"

Without a second to verify his statement, the air around them exploded at earsplitting volumes as the fighter began firing at them with his machine gun. As Lightning strapped herself into her seat, she could see it: the destination of the sky fleet. Eden.

"Fly in!" Lightning ordered "Take us into the city!"

The airship swerved, as though hearing her, and made full speed towards the city. The bullets bursting all around them, Lightning only hoped the ship held out. Finally, they crashed through the bright lights as they passed the outer shields and entered into the city with a sharp jolt. Turning back towards the enemy fighter, Lightning watched in surprise as the aircraft turned one-hundred and eighty degrees and zoomed off in the opposite direction.

"Where are they going?" Fang shouted as the remaining fleet vanished into the distance. "Six l'Cie had just entered into the capital and they turn tail in the opposite direction? _What's going on here_?

"Hey Sazh, isn't that off where they found us?" asked Vanille gently, her forehead pressed against the glass of her window.

The pilot shook his head, "Not quiet: Nautilus is about ten miles south of here" he jabbed his thumb immediately to the rear of the ship "Way they're going, looks like they're headed towards the Waterscape, the way we took _to_ Nautilus."

Lightning stared, transfixed, out the window; whatever it was that had been their salvation, she only hoped that Cloud wasn't in the middle of it.

"SAZH LOOK OUT!" screeched Vanille; Lightning spun around to find the ship rocketing towards a giant business tower. Shooting forward a hand, she, Snow and Sazh all wrestled with the controls but the ship moved as though on auto-lock; Vanille and Hope screamed mercilessly as the nose of the ship barreled into the building. However, there was no explosion or crash of shattering glass intent on shredding them to ribbons; instead, the ship melted through the wall before setting itself down on the interior.

The cabin of the ship was deathly quiet, primarily due the fact that none of them had the remotest idea as to what just happened! Regaining the feeling in her legs, as well as her wits, Lightning moved over the entrance and shoved it roughly open; stepping out into the new location, it appeared to be an all metal tunnel (reminiscent of a subway station) lit by eerie green lights, mounted on the walls. Turning back to her comrades, who stared out the opening at her with expectant looks, Lightning uttered the words that she knew all of them were thinking:

"_Where are we_?"

**Yes people, I realize that this chapter had a startling lack of messer Cloud Strife but I can guarantee that he will be back for part 2. And I do apologize if my fights seem sloppy and not well done, I've just got a lot on my plate right now; anyway, until next time! Don't forget to review :-)**


	10. Chapter 8 part 2

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

"It looks like a piece of Pulse" said Vanille, inspecting the new area more closely with her natural curiosity.

"Pulse?" asked Sazh incredibly "What, you mean like the Bodhum Vestige?" He blew a whistle of both impression and revulsion "Something like _that_,_ this close to Eden_?"

"Yeah, well, what I don't understand is after the Purge and all of that l'Cie paranoia, why keep a chunk of Pulse under the floorboards?" asked Fang meditatively, placing her hands on her hips.

Hope clapped his hands and turned to the group: "Is this what the Primarch wanted us to see?"

Lightning remembered back to what that psychopath had told them when the vivid memory hit her like a red hot iron: "_A place for l'Cie to accept their fate_."

"Do you really think our Focus is what Dysley said it is?"

"You mean become Ragnarok?" questioned Vanille, earning a nod from Hope.

"Destroy the Fal'Cie Eden and shatter Cocoon, that's what the vision told us more or less" replied Sazh methodically "Well it looks like we're back to square one: out of luck."

Lightning stared at him incredibly; though she could tell from his expression that he didn't really believe Dysley (no, Dysley wasn't real) Barthandelus, prediction but even she couldn't deny that he was right about them being out of luck.

"It's almost like Dysley wants it to come true; I mean he sure didn't mind explaining it" said Hope putting a thoughtful finger to his lips. Sazh and Fang nodded.

"But that doesn't make sense" said Vanille "I don't get it: why would a _Cocoon Fal'Cie_ want to _destroy Cocoon_?"

"Perhaps it's a Fal'Cie thing, you know what I mean?" said Hope ponderingly "Some grand design we just don't understand."

Lightning thought hard on the boys words; it would not have been the first time that people blindly followed the orders of god. Then again, looking towards the group, she could easily tell that none of them believed that his purpose was that deluded.

"Hey Snow, nothing from you?" called Fang, to which she received no answer.

"Mr. Hero! Cocoon calling Snow!" said Vanille as though she were calling someone faraway. Lightning wheeled around to find the leader of NORA, leaned against the wall with a glassy expression on his face; it didn't take a genius to tell that he was still reeling from Barthandelus words.

"Come on" said Sazh "Nowhere else to go but forward, right?" As the group moved away, Lightning turned back towards Snow, putting a hand on his shoulder and began guiding him forward. The six of them moved forward in silence, some pondering the Fal'Cie's words, others were still dealing with the present situation.

"Hey, uh, I've got to apologize…it looks like I was wrong" came a small voice that was alien to Lightning; she kept her face stony but was disconcerted to hear the voice come from Snow.

"About Serah's Focus? It's not like you to second guess yourself" she asked calmly; she knew full well what he was apologizing for but she also knew that Snow did not deserve to shoulder any blame for Barthandelus lies.

"Well, even heroes make mistakes."

"What about your plan to protect Cocoon?" Lightning said, attempting to keep Snow's morale up. "Either way, your faith in Serah was strong and _that_ strength got you this far."

"It was all wrong" Snow shot dejectedly

"Yeah: you tried so hard to convince _us_ that you even fooled _yourself_, _you've been a total idiot_! But still: it saved me. You trusted Serah, so let that faith drive you! It even made me want to believe."

Lightning didn't have to look at Snow to see the enormous look of surprise on his face. The fact was, everything she'd said was true: Cloud's wisdom and Snow's optimism had both been factors in keeping her own morale up. Now, she wasn't about to let the one who had saved her fall into despair!

Moving up a nearby flight of stairs, the group entered into a new area, giving Lightning full blast of the strange place. Looking even more like a train station, the gargantuan room expanded in all directions, vision blockaded only by mammoth walls and mountainous stairs.

"I can't believe we're still on Cocoon" said Hope, his eyes all over the place; Lightning nodded, for something from the "primitive" Pulse, the architecture certainly was reminiscent from that of Cocoon.

"It's kind of creepy" said Sazh, wearing a face of both fear and disgust.

Lightning followed Vanille up the stairs, reminded of her last curious escaped back in Lake Bresha.

"This place, it must be an Ark" she mused aloud, staring all around. Lightning stared at her:

"_An Ark_?"

"That's what they call them" said Fang, tromping slowly up the stairs "Long ago, the Fal'Cie who made their home on Gran Pulse were afraid of invasion from the outside. As part of their battle preparations they created an army of living weapons and they stored those weapons in Arks and they hid them all over the world."

"So this is basically a Pulse armory" said Lightning in a hush, shifting her gaze from the bronze-skinned woman and back to the area. If this was what the people of Cocoon feared, she shuttered but allowed a private grin to emerge, how would they react if they knew that one was only a few feet from their front doors.

"Right under our noses; _that's some secret they kept_!" said Sazh in the same quiet voice, however, he turned suddenly "Those Sanctum guys, what are they up to?"

"The story's not over" said Vanille, uncharacteristically impatient "They say the Arks had a more practical purpose: to force l'Cie to master their new powers."

"Okay, I get it" said Lightning, the anger in her stomach flaring up "Barthandelus' goal is to forge us into stronger weapons, right? Not Cie'th but monsters all the same."

"Think of it as training…" said Hope; everyone stared at him "…for the fight ahead." Lightning nodded, though let out a disdainful moan as Vanille cheered.

The building, referred to as an Ark, trembled fiercely; the group stiffened, even in the moments after the quake ended, so it was Sazh that asked: "What was that?"

There was a loud hiss (the group turned sharply) only to find that a couple of doors at the far end of the room had slid open and out stepped a pair of automatons, their clinking metal bodies echoing throughout the room. Lightning scanned the room, a fight was the last thing they needed right now! And then she saw it: half way between them and the machines, was a pathway.

"Over there!" she ordered, charging forward; easily moving past the slowly moving robots, Lightning led the five l'Cie down the path, as quickly as her legs could take her, however, much like the Palamecia the ark was an invariable maze. Adding insult to injury, every wrong turn she made only increased the number of robots that pursued the six of them; pushing into a powerful jump, Lightning forwent the stairs before her and found an entrance back into the subway-like catacombs.

"Down the stairs!" she ordered, leading them down the stairs with the thunderous echo of footfalls. Turning her gaze back up, she found to her relief that the small army of robots had halted at the top of the stairs, unable to traverse down the stairs.

With the danger out of the way and nowhere to go but forward, Lightning moved off of the platform and down the tunnel.

"Hey Lightning?" came the voice of Vanille, drawing Lightning's gaze but not halting her pace. "Hope told us about what happened in Palumpolum, are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" replied Lightning haughtily, though her gaze moved towards her feet.

"Well I noticed how close the two of you seemed to be, so I assumed-Well you assumed wrong!" Lightning barked, continuing on her way.

"Well you can lie about it all you want!" cried Vanille both hopefully and scornfully "But you can't deny your feelings for Cloud!"

Lightning's eyes widened; did she have feelings for Cloud? For the longest time she'd never considered letting anyone near her emotionally, but somehow he'd gotten passed her defenses, he'd gotten her to open up (and on the first day they'd met, no less!) Light sighed, that was the one thing about him that made her skin crawl: he could read her like a book, but she couldn't reciprocate!

Returning back from her thoughts, in time to keep from traipsing off of a length of long metal pipe, Lightning continued into an impressive granite-hallway. She paused, sensing the others around her freeze as well; Light stared around, this hallway was in no way Pulsian: it was completely Cocoonian! Something was wrong here, why would a Pulse training ground contain something from Cocoon and something completely irrelevant at that!

Lightning took off at a run, forcing her legs to take her down the hall as fast as possible, her hand gripping _Blazefire_ tightly; barging into the next chamber, she drew her weapon expecting a powerful Cie'th. Instead, she found something that she was not quite expecting: standing in the center of the room, slowly making his way towards them, was Brigadier General Cid Raines!

"Raines?" Snow spewed incredibly; Raines said nothing but continued towards the group. "Easy guys it's all right" said Snow towards Sazh and Vanille "Raines is a Sanctum officer, he's been helping us out-_Why are you here_?" barked Fang, immediately silencing Snow. Again, Raines didn't answer, but the answer was quite plain.

"YOU TRAITOR!" Lightning roared charging towards the snowy clad man. Raising her blade above her head, Lightning swung down with all of her strength but Raines stepped to the side, evading her angry attack. Spinning around, she swung _Blazefire_ in a flurry of aggravated attacks, however, Raines blocked each attack with only his hand. Taking a hold of her wrist with a hand like a vice-grip, dark-haired soldier flicked his wrist and Lightning entered into a chaotic stumble before crashing to the ground. She gasped, fighting the pain to regain her ability to breath.

"I put you on the path: _that_ was _my_ Focus!" said Raines forcefully, masterfully wielding the captured gunblade with a broad flourish.

"YOU'RE A L'CIE?" Fang screamed, taking a hold of her weapon; Raines sighed patiently:

"Since long before we met.

"I did my best to assist you as bid by the Sanctum Fal'Cie, now do you understand? The Fal'Cie have watched over you guiding your every step; the luck that 'saved' you time and again was a deliberate machination! Why you may ask?"

"Oh do tell" hissed Lightning frigidly, waiting for the opportunity to take back her weapon.

"The Primarch-or should I say Barthandelus-is crafting you into the instruments of Cocoon's demise" Raines continued, agitating Lightning further by beginning to pace and using _Blazefire_ as a walking stick.

"We've been played for fools" Fang growled angrily; Sazh stepped forward, his face angry but his voice was curious.

"A Cocoon Fal'Cie, why? It doesn't make sense!"

Raines, pausing in his movement, stared hypnotically into the steel of _Blazefire's_ blade, "_Why_? To restore the Maker: the entity responsible for creating both Humans and Fal'Cie" he said simply. Lightning stared at him, incredulously, as he paused for a moment before speaking again:

"Long ago, the Maker departed this world, leaving the two races behind. In a sense, Humans and Fal'Cie are brothers, orphaned by the same parent; as for the humans, they forgot the order imposed by the Maker and they began to war amongst themselves for the first time in history. The Fal'Cie focused on recalling their false deity and return the world to its former glory, this purpose lies at the heart of all their actions.

"Calling back the Maker requires a fitting sacrifice" said Raines, finishing his story.

"Yeah, we've heard" spat Lightning angrily "_The destruction of Cocoon_!"

Raines nodded "The lives of the continent's entire populace in bloody tribute!" With a lightning-fast wave of his arm, _Blazefire_ soared through the air; Lightning re-mastered her weapon with an equally fluid arm movement.

"I don't get it," said Hope slowly, "Why do they need us? Couldn't the Fal'Cie end Cocoon with just a thought?"

"Their creation is bound to the creation and maintenance of this floating shell" explained Raines calmly "It is their very nature that holds them in check."

"You mean: Cocoon Fal'Cie can't destroy Cocoon? They need tools" said Hope, the pieces of the puzzle beginning to click into place.

"If we can stop this by doing nothing… _we'll do_ _nothing_!" said Vanille adamantly; Sazh nodded in concurrence.

"Noble, I expected as much" said Raines; Lightning eyed him curiously, his eyes gazed down at them like a hawk on its prey, but his tone was distant.

"You lied to us!" shouted Snow furiously "What happened to your dream of rebuilding Cocoon for the people? _WAS IT ALL A LIE_?"

Raines sighed sadly, "A shadow of a dream from when I was human. It was change that I craved and, once I'd built the influence to make things happen, there _was_ change! I gained all the power I could hope for but was a puppet with no will to wield it; it was then that I realized, it wasn't the Fal'Cie who changed: _it was me_!"

Lightning grunted in shock as the Brigadier General began to burn a fiery green cloak, similar to the one that possessed Cloud in Palumpolum.

"I was made a l'Cie" ranted Raines, his voice hysterical "Tied to an inescapable Focus-a slave of destiny. I'd lost hope, given up on dreams of freedom."

"What are you saying" gasped Lightning

"I am here of my own accord, not by Fal'Cie order!" Raines proclamation was met by a conjoined gasp of shock and terror.

"Seeing you fight brought it all back, brought back the future that I once strove for. I too will challenge my fate! If I can defeat you here, the Fal'Cie's plan will fail!"

Raines snapped his fingers; there was a brilliant flash and the group was surrounded by a barrier of strange symbols.

"Wait, what's-_Oh not this again_!" Lightning turned sharply, only to find that Fang, Sazh and Vanille had been sealed on the outside of the barrier, leaving Snow, Hope and herself to contend with Raines.

"Easy guys" said Lightning pacifyingly, seeing the fear in Hope's eyes and the anger in Snow's.

"I will use all of my remaining power: I WILL SET YOU FREE!" cried Raines, the pique of his instability finally attained (Fang called out to him but to no avail). Raines crossed his arms, storing up the burning green fire into a tiny ball in the center of his chest; the energy burst forth in a blinding flash of light (causing the three l'Cie to shield their eyes). After a moment, Lightning lowered her arm and saw the gruesome transformation.

Raines had transformed into…Lightning wasn't quite sure what to make of it; the top portion of his clothes had ripped away to reveal a crystalline body, his dark hair had become dangerously spikey and his eyes had gone a vibrant green. Most fearsome, however, was that his right arm had been replaced by a single, massive claw!

"Alright Raines" growled Snow, popping his knuckles "Don't think that because I considered you a good guy that's going to stop me from-" Snow never finished his sentence; as he spoke, Raines flashed a bright, angry red aura and pounced like a hungry tiger, striking the tall warrior so hard that it blasted him off his feet, launching him several feet backwards. Tearing her eyes away from the impressive blow and back on the enemy l'Cie, Lightning was introduced to a world of hurt as she became lost in the flurry of kicks. A hard pressure planted itself in her chest, rocketing her backward; there was a bruise-inducing thud and a sharp '_Crack_' as she skidded to a halt. Blinking the stars out of her eyes, the first thing that Lightning realized that she was laying on top of a great fleshy mound.

"Hey, er…Light? I don't mean to be rude but, I'm kind of promised to Serah so-" said Snow jokingly; Lightning returned to her feet but not before shooting him a look of annoyance. The two of them turned back-to-back, facing Raines who (oddly enough) returned to the ground bent onto one knee. Suddenly the horrific realization hit Lightning harder than any weapon or any spell, scanning the field she found no trace of Hope! Something heavy dropped from the sky, catching Light by the shoulder, dragging her down and forcing her to kiss the steel floor; "_No more need to worry_" she thought dryly "_We found Hope_!"

"WHAT ARE YOU LOT DOING?" roared Fang from the sidelines, along with several other choice words that mothers to recommend a mouth wash with soap.

"Get up! You've got to fight back!" cried Vanille worriedly; the three l'Cie each stood, moaning in pain.

"_Easier said than done_" thought Lightning harshly, rubbing her shoulder. Lightning returned to her battle stance and eyed Raines carefully. He'd caught them off guard and out of sync, but now was when they would shine!

"_AGGRESSION_!" Bellowed Lightning, however, Raines back boiled like hot water and then six spiny wings burst forth. Moving like a flash, the enemy l'Cie swung his left arm downward, banishing the pink-haired warrior to the ground; giving her head a good shake, Lightning turned upward only to find him batting Snow into a wall, using Hope's head as the bat. She watched angrily as he dropped the unconscious youth to ground, when suddenly, something Cloud said to her a while back swam before her eyes: _we can't take these guys on our own_…_we need help_! Putting a hand to her chest, shutting her eyes in concentration, she simultaneously felt the sturdiness of her crystal rose appear into the palm of her hand and she felt the sudden pain and the escape of saliva as Raines drove his clawed fist into Lightning's gut. She hit the ground hard, rolling to a halt, fighting for her breath; and what was worse, her crystal had slipped from her grasp and landed half way between her and Cid.

"Look at you" said Raines pitifully, moving slowly towards her; his boot unconsciously smashed the tiny pink stone as he moved (Lightning grinned victoriously). "You still believe you can win?" he cried incredibly "What can you possibly do?"

Lightning chuckled, despite the lack of wind in her lungs and the sharp pain in her rib cage; "I can't beat you myself Raines…" she gasped, holding up her index finger "…but _he_ can!"

The look Raines gave her was quite unfathomable, though he twisted his neck curiously; staring at him with a murderous look in his eyes, stood the pale-skinned Eidolon: _Odin_! The warrior flourished his golden S-shaped blades before swinging widely, catching Cid in the side of the head and launching him across the room!

_My lady_… said Odin gently offering Lightning a hand …_you've been busy I see_. Lightning nodded but gazed murderously at Raines, who was beginning to return to his feet; Odin turned towards the enemy l'Cie with a look understanding on his face. _Allow me_.

Gripping her hand tightly and launching her into the air, Lightning watched as her Eidolon contorted into the unnatural angles until her rump collided heavily with the newly transformed summon.

"Alright Raines, you want to do this the hard way: _then let's ride_!"

Catching Odin's S-shaped blade and twirling it like a deadly baton, Lightning shot forth a storm of deadly winds. Raines dodged the first of the trio and then the second in a motion like a dance; however, he took the final razor-like gust square in the chest, knocking the powerful l'Cie into a wide stagger. Driving her heels into Odin's ribs and digging in her knees for stability, Lightning charged forth, splitting the sword into the dual blades. The horse spun and the pink-haired l'Cie swung the swords upward, launching the staggered Raines upward. Moving into a crouched position and then shooting herself into the air with a powerful thrust of her legs, Lightning gyrated like a deadly bladed whirlwind and hitting Cid with the full fury of the _Zantetsuken_. Crashing back to the ground with a muffled '_Thump_', Lightning could feel the weight of the two swords disappear along with the phantasmal voice: _Well done_, _my lady_.

Lightning did not bother to watch as her enemy crashed back to the metal floor and his barrier dissipate with the tinkle of breaking glass, but turned her immediate attention towards her unconscious allies. Putting her middle and index fingers on each of their necks, Lightning found to her relief that both had a steady pulse; whipping out a tiny flashlight she flipped open each of their eyelids. Shining the tiny light in each of their eyes, she sighed in relief as both showed no signs of internal damage as both pairs were equally round and reactive to the light.

"LIGHT!" said a voice from behind; Lightning shifted her head slightly to find Vanille running towards them.

Shining into the familiar emerald green rings, Lightning began firing the soft orbs of gentle light on Snow (whilst Vanille tended to Hope). Both men's eyes flew open. There was a loud gurgle from behind causing Lightning to turn; Raines was writhing in agony on the floor, truly a pitiful sight for the general.

"Ironic, isn't it?" he called upon falling still "The only thing I wanted was a moment of triumph…but how it ends isn't important. J-just do what you know is right…_trust yourselves_!" There was a blinding but quick blast of light and Raines forever froze, now a captive of the crystal.

Lightning stared at his statue in utter astonishment; "W-What?" sputtered Sazh, being the first to regain his voice "Did he complete his Focus?"

"I don't think so" said Snow groggily, returning to his feet and moving over to their petrified enemy "All Raines did was try to save Cocoon in his own way!" With that, Snow turned in a great huff and vanished from the great room. Lightning turned back to Raines as the group followed after him: this was the fate that her sister had met and one that awaited her. Snow was right, he was no different from them: he just wanted to protect his home.

"Find peace, Cid" she said quietly. Lightning turned on her heel and left the crystalline statue inside the lonely room, never to be discovered again.

Lightning trailed behind the group, who had come to a halt behind Snow.

"Looks like a dead end" said Hope staring around the newest room of junk; Lightning observed around as well: true enough to the boys words, they stood alone on a concrete balcony overlooking the endless fields of nothingness before them. As much as she hated to admit it: they had reached the end of the road.

"I have had enough of this! WHERE IS THE WAY OUT?" Sazh bellowed, his voice echoing loudly throughout the empty room.

"Way out?" breathed Snow dubiously "Who said there was one?" Lightning stared at him as he turned around with his trademark grin on his face.

"My mind's made up: maybe I will end up a Cie'th but until that happens, I'm going to make Serah proud!" He fell silent for a moment, staring down at his hand (where her sister's crystal sat) sadly "I couldn't bring myself to admit that this tear meant good-bye and that's why I kept searching for her. _But I didn't need to_!

"Serah was here the whole time, right here watching over me" Snow placed the crystal over his heart "Now I get it: what this tear's been telling me is not to let our Focus win! It's not the Fal'Cie we should listen to, it's Serah and Raines! You know why? Because our Focus doesn't matter, what matters to me is that we protect Cocoon, whatever it takes! _Who's with me_?" Snow shot out his hand.

Lightning rolled her eyes and grinned privately as Vanille, Hope and the Chocobo chick threw their hands on Snows. She exchanged grins with Sazh and Fang. She smiled at another thought: Snow's fire had been reignited, however slightly, the same annoying spirit that even kept her own morale up was burning furiously once again.

"Look!" cried Vanille suddenly, "A path!" Looking past the red-head, Lightning saw a long ephemeral walkway, shining with the same silvery light as the moon (she took a moment to wonder how in the world they'd missed _that_ before).

"Don't suppose you want to call that a sign of me being right?" said Snow good-naturedly "Listen: if we keep our eyes on the goal, we'll figure something out!" His own vigor restored, the tall, bandanna-clad warrior took off to lead them down the new path. Lightning followed, cautiously at first; she eyed the glowing pathway carefully before placing a foot on it. It rippled like water but surprisingly it held her weight with the sturdiness of stone. Keeping a vigilant eye on it, Lightning followed onward.

"Hey: LOOK AT THAT!" cried Vanille thrusting forth her ever curious finger; to Light's absolute astonishment, sitting amongst the mountainous piles of junk and rubble was an airship, waiting patiently on a launch pad.

"What? _An airship_?" cried Sazh incredulously, obviously done with all of the random surprises the loony bin of a training ground had to throw at them.

"I guess it was one of this Ark's weapons or something" said Vanille running over towards the machine. Lightning inspected the ship closer as well, for being in such an ancient place it was in astonishingly good condition without even so much as a fleck of rust on its dark paint-job.

"I-I don't believe it!" cried Fang causing Lightning to turn towards her; her friend was staring towards the roof, where an acid green portal sat at the end of the launch rail. "That—That's a gate to Gran Pulse!"

Staring up at the swirling vortex, Lightning folded her arms, "Could be one of Barthandelus traps" she said, opening the floor for discussion. Vanille turned to her, looking surprised:

"Well that's no good, do you think it might take us to Eden?"

"OH NO!" thundered Sazh, stepping forward with his chest puffed out "I'm doing the flying! No more of these ships taking charge of our travel plans! The only place this thing is taking us is where _these boys_ tell it to!" He flexed his arms and massaged his muscles like a champion.

Fang laughed dubiously "Really? _That_ is a Gran Pulse ship!"

"Really," relied Sazh coolly "Leave it to me!" he bumped his fist against his chest, though did so more forcefully than necessary causing him to double over coughing. Lightning let out an irritated sigh.

"Either way, we're on borrowed time" said Snow, taking point once again "Might as well go. If we get lucky: then maybe we'll turn up some way to get rid of these goofy tattoos."

"If nothing else, we know Cocoon is safe for the time being…I'd say it's worth going to take a look!" said Hope, the confidence ringing in his voice.

"What about your dad?" inquired Lightning gently.

"I made him a promise" replied Hope calmly "I promised him to keep going and do what I had to. He said only I would know what that was…the world's full of lies and there's no way of knowing what's right, so all we can do is believe in ourselves. I'm done with all of the Sanctum's lies…the Fal'Cie, _this whole Focus thing_! From here on I use my eyes, think and act; I might not make all the right choices but as long as I'm the one who decided what to do, then there's nothing to regret."

Lightning stared at him, overflowing with pride; if Hope really believed in his own words and trusted his gut that much, he'd Lightning completely sold.

"Well I'm with you, bad choices and all!" laughed Sazh, placing his hands on Hope's shoulders.

"Okay!" roared Snow jubilantly "Everybody in!" With that, the l'Cie clambered into the airship. However, what was big and glorious on the outside was not quite so on the inside; the interior was little more than several benches, laid out like church pews, and stocked so tightly together that even the air felt claustrophobic. Nevertheless, Lightning settled herself into the second bench and fastened the harness as Sazh familiarized himself with the controls. As the ship's engine whined and then rose a few feet into the air, Light took a moment to free the thought:

"Off to hell we go."

The ship took off like a bullet! Lightning gripped the sides of her seat as the vessel began to tremble violently. "HOLD ON BACK THERE!" bellowed Sazh of the roar of the engine, taking the ship straight on towards the ever expanding bulb of light in front of them. Suddenly, the trembling ceased and there was no more tunnel to block their way, but only open air and the blinding light of the sunset.

"YOU DID IT!" cheered Vanille; Sazh shot her the thumbs up. Lightning released a breath of reprieve, this had to have been the smoothest airship trip she'd taken in a long time! Almost as soon as she'd thought it, something soared passed the airship, the turbulence causing the ship to lurch and toss its passengers like popcorn.

"Playful critter isn't he?" said Fang sarcastically.

"Go play with someone else" said Lightning darkly, keeping her trained eyes on the worm-like beast that writhed in the sky. Faster than anything on Cocoon could have moved, the Pulse creature returned, scraping the side of the airship and ripping open a mammoth hole in it. Two very terrifying things happened at the same time: the first was that the nose of the ship began to fall, quickly losing altitude. The second: the suction of the depressurization had caused such a violent updraft that Vanille and Hope had been sucked out and began to the long fall to the world below.

Acting on instinct, Lightning gripped her gunblade and pitched herself out of the crashing vessel; looking to her right, she noticed that Fang had followed her. The bronze-skinned woman threw out her arm, ejaculating something small but very shiny; instinctually taking aim, Lightning squeezed Blazefire's trigger and fired a burst of three. The first bullet missed by several meters…the second nicked the tiny object, whilst the third shot smashed it like an egg. There was a brilliant flash of purplish light when a great, human-like bat shot forth from the radiance; staring at the great creature as it contorted into rocket-like dragon, Lightning could feel something grip her shoulder before another powerful updraft pulled her upwards again. Her back slammed against something very hard, however, she soon came to realize that this was only the bat-dragon from before: Fang's Eidolon.

"HANG ON!" screeched Fang over the howling wind; Lightning held on for dear life as the Pulsian woman directed her Eidolon into a kamikaze dive, gaining speed. There were two dull thumps from behind; Light shifted her gaze to find they'd been joined by the two gentlemen. Training her eyes forward again, she saw them: the youngest two of the group, lying flat as they fell but steadily growing larger as they neared them. Soaring past the children, Lightning shot out an arm and took hold of Hope's hand, pulling them both to safety. Looking out, the pink-haired l'Cie found the massive expanse of world that she never could have dreamed to exist; however, shifting her eyes, she found something even stranger: sever hundred yards away, in a blazing blue aura was something else was crashing down to the world below like a meteor.

Suddenly, her world was thrown in to total entropy as the Eidolon barrel-rolled and sending his passengers tumbling over the side. Fortunately, their fall wasn't that far and they hit the ground hard with a massive, consensual "OOF!" Lying in the heap of groaning bodies, Lightning did a personal body check, pleasantly finding no unbearable pain (aside from the one in her skull) and all parts involved were still functioning. Suddenly an alien tickle surged up her leg; Lightning strained her neck as she turned and bellowed:

"Alright! Whose foot is that?"

**~o Cloud's POV o~**

Cloud hit the grassy ground hard (his sword falling away), rolling to a halt as his chest tried to tear itself apart; the fire that enveloped his body ripped at him, wanted more than anything just to die. Suddenly the pain stopped, Cloud opened his mouth, gasping deeply, but several thin streams of deep crimson dripped out and staining his mouth with the coppery taste.

A sharp pain hit Cloud like a truck, he let out a scream; Pitiful, you really are worthless without me. Leaning against a rock, still twitching violently, the spikey haired warrior spit out a mouthful of hot blood before he was able to push past the pain to respond.

"S-Sephiroth…why are you here?"

He screamed again as another wave of agonizing fire struck him like white-hot swords stabbing his body. _I am here to exact my vengeance_ came Sephiroth's silky voice, _The more you fight the faster the Mako poisoning will kill you_, _the more you run the slower it will_, _either way_: _you will die_!

"Spare me the: this is about revenge, crap" spat Cloud, still paralyzed by the pain "Why did you save me?"

Another glob of thick crimson burst from his mouth as the pain began to melt his very bones; _I will have my revenge on you Cloud_, _but I cannot do this is you are dead_!

Cloud gripped his chest ready to tear open his chest and claw out his heart to end the agony. He didn't want to listen anymore; he wanted it all to end. The fire conquered him, his senses dying in numbness; when he returned to the conscious world, it took him several moments before he realized that he was face down on the ground.

"So that's what this is?" replied Cloud to himself "You kept me alive so you could kill me yourself?"

The blinding pain that ensued was too much for Cloud too handle, he barely felt anything as he fell back into the darkness, the last words he would hear was: _Yes and with you gone_, _there'll be no one to stop me again_!

Cloud no longer felt anything, no fear, no pain, not even peace; he felt positively nothing as he moved towards a bright green light.

"Don't give up", said a soft, kindly voice that beckoned to Cloud from beyond; his eyes widened in surprise: _he knew that voice_!

"You can't let him win,"

"But I-I can't do this anymore-"

"You can do it…so many people believe in you; besides, you still need to see her again." The bright light began to fade, and Cloud felt again, only that he felt disbelief and confusion "Go back to her, Cloud!"

Cloud's first breath returned to him in a harsh rasp. He coughed at the sudden rattling he felt in his lungs, but his next breath came more smoothly as his heartbeat regained its usual rhythm. He lay there in the grass, inhaling deeply the damp air, and staring up at the sky; what was Lightning doing right now? Was she safe?

He smiled to himself: when had he started to care about them? He had only come to their homeland to abandon them with his death, but now he had come to consider each of them his friends. And then there was Lightning: she had become his closest friend on Cocoon and he couldn't deny that he'd come to have the same feelings for her that he used to have for Tifa.

A loud, ghostly howl echoed throughout the empty valley; pushing himself into a sitting position he could see, off in the distance, a familiar gray wolf sat on its haunches emitting the mournful sound. The wolf ended its natural dirge before averting its eyes downward and staring at him with brown orbs that appeared to pierce his very soul.

"_What do you want_?" he spat disgustedly, "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

Pushing himself to his feet, a distant glow met his peripherals sharply, before a massive ball of flames jutted from his hand, but the force which he'd thrust the magic had dragged him down to his knees. There was a roar and an intense wave of heat and the area across from him erupted into a wild blaze, but with a startling lack of wolf. Cloud pounded his knee in anger and frustration, he was already tormented by the fact that he couldn't help anyone (let alone himself) why did the damn thing have to show up and rub it in?

"FREEZE!" came a loud voice from behind him; Cloud twisted his neck around to find himself staring at a platoon of darkly armored soldiers.

"Stay right where you are!" screamed a man with silver-hair and a black coat, stepping out of the crowd. Cloud reached for his weapon as a phantom recognition of Kadaj appeared before him.

"You're the guy from Palumpolum" he said intelligently, earning him a look of disdain from the man.

"Yes and I am also leader of the entire fleet that you single-handedly destroyed!" Cloud felt a sudden pang of guilt for actions that he had no control over. "I congratulate you" said the man frigidly "Your death has overtaken the importance of six l'Cie loose on this continent!"

Cloud laughed derisively, "I've been trying to die since I got here" he admitted "But it seems that I can't even do that properly." Cloud rose to his feet, propping himself up with _Avenger_ and _Ascalon_, however, his legs gave way and he collapsed onto his knees. He could hear the priming of guns all around him.

Suddenly, a warm cloak of azure aura burst around him (he could hear the soldiers gasp in surprise), and Cloud could distantly hear the command: "FIRE AT WILL!"

Gunfire erupted all around him; Cloud sat there, helpless, waiting for the end to come only it didn't. Looking up, the spikey-haired man stared in surprise as the aura manifested as a giant, hexagonal shield, absorbing the force of the bullets and dropping them harmlessly to the ground. The shield charged forward!

It struck the soldiers, who screamed in terror, running for their lives, and they fell to the floor of the world, unmoving. Cloud sat there, watching and wondering what was happening; the shield suddenly shifted from the hexagonal shield into a more curious form: standing in the distance from Cloud that the soldiers once occupied, blazing its docile blue fire was a phantasmal creature in the form of a wolf.

The wolf dissipated into a shapeless blue mass and rushed towards the spikey-haired warrior; Cloud, too stunned from what he'd just seen, made no effort to defend himself. The aura engulfed him again; it felt like being caught in a torrential current, washing him off of his butt and spiriting him away to places unknown. He went higher and higher and higher until there was a tiny tinkle of something shattering. Cloud hung numbly in midair when, at last, his stomach lurched, symbolizing his very rapid descent!

He fell, faster and faster, his vision fuzzy from both the burning cloak and the inexplicable tiredness; from what he could see, Cloud saw a mammoth sphere growing smaller as he fell away. Turning his head, he found something even stranger: several hundred yards away, in a blazing cloak similar to his own, something else was crashing down to the world below like a meteor. Flipping over onto his stomach, he prepared himself for the inevitable crash but found himself unable to tense his muscles, caught in a comfortable warmth that rendered him paralyzed.

Cloud hit the ground with a muffled '_Crash_' though his landing was not hard, rather it was more of a dull thump that met his tired muscles. Feeling the warmth of the aura disappear and cool sweat rolling off of his skin and onto the soft cushion of grass beneath him, Cloud found his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier with the rhythmic pattern of his pants.

"Okay…" he promised himself "…just-a few…minutes." Then all cut to black as Cloud lost consciousness on Terra Incognita.

**Once again, I think I messed up on the POV a couple of times so if I did, I apologize. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this (just to let you guys know: the Cid Raines fight was a much needed, therapeutic ass-whooping fight). Personally I hope you guys liked my bit of comedy at the end of Lightning's POV; and be prepared: stuff's going to be going down in the next couple of chapters. Don't forget those reviews guys!**


	11. Chapter 9: The Reunion

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

Gran Pulse. It was as vibrantly beautiful as it was untamed; trees that painted the ground a rich, luscious green and bodies of water that looked like they could have swallowed Cocoon in its entirety. However, this Pulse was only one that she'd seen from the sky. The Pulse where they had landed was little more than a small grassy alcove surrounded by star-touching mountains, encircled by nauseatingly abysmal fissures.

Nighttime had fallen and Lightning sat before their campfire, running a smooth stone down the length of _Blazefire's_ edge, staring meditatively into the frivolously dancing flames. What was the next move? They had remained locked in this stony nook for three days and with no possible prospect escaping its clutches. While she had fallen into her typical method of thinking (via weapon maintenance), she turned he eyes from the fire to observe her comrades:

Sazh sat several feet away but also stared distractedly into the fire; Snow stood across from her, leaning against the thick trunked tree and his gaze burned holes in his boots. Off to the side sat the two Pulsian women, sitting back-to-back and talking silently with reminiscent looks on their faces. Nearest to her, deep in thought and lying flat on his back with a fist over his eyes was Hope, his lips moving but no sound came out.

Dropping the stone used to sharpen her sword and pulling out a white rag from her medical pouch, Lightning proceeded to run it up and down _Blazefire_ with long, smooth, even strokes. "_What's next Farron_?" She wondered to herself, they only way out of their present location lead to, what had once been, a grand city but only stood in ruinous shambles, a shadow of its former self. Just from what she'd seen, Lightning truly understood what Fang and Vanille had been telling them: here, there really was no can or can't, you either lived or died by the choices you made. This place was, by design, a massive trial to learn who was most fit to survive!

"Hey Fang, Vanille" said Snow at last breaking the silence "I'm surprised neither of you know how to get us out of here. Haven't either of you been here before?"

"No" replied Vanille flatly "Oerba's a good, long distance to the west and neither one of us have ever been this far away from home."

"General rule of thumb here on Gran Pulse: never stray too far from your village, it might just be the last thing you ever do!" said Fang sardonically.

Lightning sighed "Great, so we are surrounded by nothing but ruins and bloodthirsty wildlife…we've run out of places to search…"

"If only we could get up there…" said Sazh, staring at the mountainous walls of rock that encircled them. Lightning stared upward, silently agreeing with him; unfortunately, without her Grav-Con Unit she was no longer capable of performing such feats. "…who'd have thought: that we'd come this far for it to just end?"

"_SO THIS IS HOW IT ENDS_?" bellowed Snow loudly

"Just wait" replied Sazh pacifyingly "Now how long has it been since we left Cocoon, hm? Not a single soul for miles around, not a single clue about this l'Cie mess…what I'm saying is, we did well just getting this far." Lightning paused in her stroking: Sazh was absolutely right; if they didn't find anything soon then they wouldn't get another chance.

"Oerba!" said Hope, shooting up with a look of absolute eureka written across his face; "Vanille and Fang's home-the place where it all began; maybe-just maybe-it'll be the place where we find the answers we're looking for!"

Vanille looked positively ecstatic though Fang looked dubious, "Yeah right: if we can get there."

Lightning shot Fang a dark look. It was the best plan that she'd heard in the last three days and she didn't see the bronze-skinned woman coming up with anything better. Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, it appeared quite plainly that the vote was unanimous.

There was a faint but distinct growl from the darkness; Lightning burst to her feet, holding _Blazefire_ at the ready and gaining the attention of her friends. She furrowed her eyebrows: something had found them (attracted by the fire and their voices no doubt) and from the sound of it, whatever it was, there was a lot of and _it was hungry_!

From out of the shadows emerged a pack of dirt colored, growling and snarling, wolf-like creatures, drool dripping from their jowls. Lightning lifted her gunblade into the air and squeezed the trigger, releasing a burp of fire and an echo of thunder as her warning reverberated throughout the enclosed space. The monsters, however, did not take this as Lightning had intended and instead charged forward with a hungry roar!

Encircling herself in the trio of bright red and transmuting her weapon, Lightning simply stepped forward and plunged the full length of her sword down the throat of the open mouthed beast. Tearing _Blazefire_ away, the wolf-ish monster fell to the ground, twitched twice, and then became still. Spinning on her heel and dragging her blade upwards, Lightning drove four inches off the tip of her blade into the guts of a second beast. Turning back towards the group, she watched as Sazh felled monsters left and right, Snow and Fang slaying the beasts in, almost, a rehearsed manner. Hope and Vanille moved in a strange dance, each lobbing some form of magic at their attackers; Light turned towards the remaining members of the pack (who'd frozen in their tracks) and shot them the angriest death glare she could muster.

An earsplitting howl cut across the group of battling l'Cie; the remainder of the pack abandoned their easy kill and fallen brothers, then disappeared into the darkness from whence they'd come.

"Yeah, you'd better run!" Sazh laughed victoriously; Fang and Vanille, however, both went extraordinarily pale and gave each other petrified looks.

"I've heard that before…" said Fang as the howl shrieked across the evening again "…_and it is not a good sign_!" As Lightning opened her mouth to question the ground began to tremble violently. Training her eyes back towards the endless darkness, she saw it: stepping into the light was another wolf-like monster, only this one was colored bright silver and, compared to the others, this one was _enormous_! Easily matching the size of six Orion-class battle mech's and, judging from two Pulsian's reactions, just as powerful. Forgoing the dismal howl, the mammoth creature roared thunderously and began flexing its leg muscles, quickly and repeated, as it charged forth with an earth shaking crunch!

A hand gripped Lightning's shoulder, and forcing her heavily backward; Fang had shot past her, her spear-arm cocked back, and launched it with all of her strength. The tip of her bladed spear pierced the skin, right at the base of the neck, but did not slow the beast; Lightning watched as Fang stepped back, allowing the tall-warrior, the kids and the pilot to begin an assault of their own. The enraged animal plowed into them, sending the l'Cie flying backwards; the five of them crashed back to the ground and failed to get back up, each moaning in pain and unconsciousness.

Lightning turned back towards the monster, who continued its mad run, _Blazefire_ pointed downward. Moving her blade over her head and swinging it down, the steel scraped harmlessly off the monster's steel-like head. The monster flexed its neck muscles and twitched it violently, throwing Lightning to the ground; the pink-haired warrior, ignoring the pain in her back, pulled out her survival knife (opening the blade with a fluid flick) and sitting it reverse in her hand, rolled out of the way of the beasts massive swipe of its claw. Pushing back onto his feet, Lightning shot her upside-down fist upward and plunging it deeply into the belly of the beast. She rolled out from the monsters underside as it flailed in pain; surrounding herself with the trio of dark blue rings, Light seized a fistful of the silver wolf-monsters hind leg and felt her arm throb as electricity surged from her brand and into the beast.

There was another pain-filled, angry roar when a dull twinge blazed across her torso, beating the wind out of Lightning's lungs as the creature mule kicked her. Soaring through the air, Lightning felt a familiar thud strike her back and a sharp ring met her ears as both she and her _Blazefire Saber_ collided with the ground. Blinking stars out of her eyes and fighting to regain her breath, Lightning stretched her arm to reach her weapon, close enough to touch with her fingers but remained just out of reach. An enormous paw stepped down on _Blazefire's_ blade, pinning it to the ground, and another deep growl reached her ears; turning her eyes upwards, she found the massive wolf standing above her, baring its yellow fangs and breathing rancid breath into her nostrils. She stared into its beady, blood-red eyes in terror, doing her best to wiggle her sword free.

Lightning became vaguely aware of a distant 'Thump' from her beyond her line of sight but was grateful because the monster turned its eyes forward. Whatever it was threw the massive beast backwards with a loud grunt and then charged past her, disappearing into the darkness. She couldn't see the struggle but she could hear distinct sounds of sword swings; a particularly violent slash averted Light's gaze to the starry sky, where a massive silhouette hung in the air along with something glowing a flaming blue. The blue light rocketed around the sky, striking the beast violently and creating a star of blue fire; at once, the edges of the star converged on the monster and there was a deafening explosion, lighting the sky momentarily before all faded back to the darkness. Lightning watched in awe as the massive creature began its decent back into the abyss when a dull thud rang throughout the alcove; then she saw it, the beast rose back into the air, only it flew high, higher than the tops of the surrounding mountains before disappearing from sight.

"Whoa" came an impressed voice from behind; Lightning shifted her head to find her five companions sitting up, all apparently having seen the transpired events. Turning back to the endless black, as heavy footfalls began their approach, when the figure of man emerged; Vanille gasped, Sazh and Snow mumbled (from what Lightning could tell it was something to the effect of "No Way") but it was Lightning that actually acknowledged the man, her voice a mixture of surprise, relief and, most of all, happiness:

"_Cloud_"

**~o Cloud's POV o~**

Cloud awakened with a shuddering jolt and his lungs worked overtime, ingesting massive amounts of air into his body. His eyes were all over the place, scanning, but could hardly see anything beyond the painfully blinding orange sunset. Cloud pushed himself onto his back, his breathing becoming steadier, and stared up at the distantly gargantuan sphere, hovering loftily in the sky. How long had he been asleep? The thought rolled throughout his mind, however, a slightly more pressing question gnawed at him: apart from the obvious, _where on Earth was he_? Cloud racked his brain for a moment, he remembered Palumpolum all too vividly (admittedly, the escape was kind of fuzzy). The events with PSICOM were rather dream-like but he could easily recall the massive fall.

Rolling back onto his stomach and pushing himself up, the throb from a phantom headache agitated his skull. The spikey-haired man ignored this and successfully returned to his feet; awaiting him was a strange sight. Standing before him, lodged tightly into the ground, was all six of Clouds swords, fully fused and awaiting their master. Taking hold of the velvety handle and tensing his bicep, Cloud freed his hefty blade from the earth.

Cloud stared around, casting a glance up towards the sky; he found the sun sinking behind the distant mountains and the sky quickly changing from orange to violet-blue. With nowhere to go and not accomplishing anything by standing still, Cloud shouldered his weapon with a sigh and began to walk.

Soon enough ten minutes had gone by…and then twenty; the sun had long since disappeared and his way was lit by the silvery light of the moon and the billions of sparkling stars. Cloud continued his solitary walk, his mind beginning to wander: he wondered about Shelke, how was she handling her condition? What where his friends doing, Tifa, Vincent, Snow and Hope? But mainly, he thought of Lightning; why did she fascinate him so much? Perhaps it was her strength (one that kept him going) or maybe it was the way she fought? Cloud sighed: why did he care so much? He had come looking to die in peace (in which he had failed most extraordinarily) but lately, all he'd thought of was how to help her and the others.

Suddenly, his boot sank lower than he would have liked but was able to keep himself from plummeting off the end of the road. By whatever powers that be, Cloud inhaled deeply and turned his gaze a complete ninety degrees downward; apart from the mammoth drop into the chasm below, there was nothing between the grassy ledges in at the foot of the sharp mountains except for a length of moss-covered pipe. However, on the opposite ledge, Cloud could make out a jagged crack in the rock wall; though he wasn't entirely sure that it led, the decision to reach it was still the most sensible plan…now all he needed was a way down!

"_SO THIS IS HOW IT ENDS_?" a voice echoed loudly across the stillness of the wilderness; Cloud turned sharply, his eyes widening in surprise. He knew that voice but it couldn't be! The odds would have been-Cloud refrained from thinking of the astronomical impossibility, as those odds had already been proven wrong since his arrival. He pushed into a run taking off from where the voice had originated.

Moving down the edge of the mountain, a distant smell of smoke suddenly became stronger as he moved, and a faint glow arose from the ground below. Pulling to a halt, Cloud looked down towards the unbelievable sight:

Sitting around a fire was a group of six people, he could immediately recognize the lanky form of Snow, leaned against a tree and the sprawled out young man who he'd traveled with. But sitting immediately below him, slowly stroking her weapon: was Lightning! Cloud let out a combination of a sigh and a laugh. But something caught his eye; straining his eyes towards the darkness off to the side, he found a pack of wolfish beasts inching towards the group. However, Lightning had gotten to her feet, her weapon at the ready, as the monsters stepped into the light; a thunderous '_crack_' cut across the air as she fired a warning shot into the air and the wolves charged forward. The six fought bravely and eventually repelled the beasts, banishing them back to the darkness; Cloud chuckled to himself, disappointed in himself for worrying.

However, his concern was not completely unjustified. Another wolf-monster, this one silver and gigantic, roared loudly and barreled towards the group; watching the enormous beast take out five of them like bowling pins and climb atop a collapsed Lightning, Cloud gripped his fully-fused sword tightly, he'd waited long enough! Bravely stepping forward and dropping like a rock, wind rustling through his hair, Cloud landed in front the monstrous beast with a dull '_thump_' and an equal pain blaze through his feet. The monster shifted its beady, blood-red eyes towards him and, with a swing of his sword Cloud swatted the monster off of Lightning. Charging into the darkness after the mammoth creature, the spikey-haired soldier lifted the hefty sword above his shoulder (edge upward) and pierced the beast's fleshy gut, launching it and five auxiliary blades upward. Shining with an azure fire, Cloud shot upward and then stared the monster in the face; roaring in anger the beast launched its neck forward, biting down its stiletto-like fangs at his enemy, only for him to disappear in a flash of blue.

Ricocheting around, successfully disorienting his enemy, Cloud rushed forward crashing the _Ascalon_ into the beast's armored head, sending it into a wide stagger. Replacing _Ascalon_ in his harness and taking hold of _Vigilante_, he stormed the beast once more, ripping through the flesh. Leaving the blade behind and rocketing over to his next sword, Cloud took the _Merciless_ in his hand and moved for another attack. Again…twice... three times; finally, he was high above the behemoth-like wolf, but instead of being in the center of a golden star, it was surrounded by five blue flame-like clones of himself each wielding one of the six swords. Drawing _Ascalon_ and closing his empty hand in a vindictive fashion, the six clones enclosed the enemy, slashing their weapons and disappearing like ghosts; leaning forward, Cloud plummeted headfirst and, his sword above his head, drove five inches of steel into the beast's skull.

The blue aura that surrounded him, lit up the night sky in a blinding flash and Cloud landed stylishly back onto the ground, surrounded by a ring of swords. Howling a wounded cry, the wolfish monster raced back to the ground; taking hold of _Ascalon_ once again, Cloud twirled it around his head and muttered to himself "BATTER UP!"

Swinging the sword with all his might, he caught the monster at the base of the neck and then launched it. Raising high over the mountainside, higher than the expanse of the rock-face, the monster howled at a blood-curling note and disappeared from sight. Cloud breathed a controlled breath, collected his swords, and moved towards the group, stepping into the light of the fire.

"CLOUD!" cheered Vanille, as she and Hope ran over towards him, the red-head curling her arms around his waist in a spine breaking hug. "Oh, Fang this is-"

"-So you're this great hero I've heard so much about," said a bronze-skinned woman, stepping nearer to him "Savior of the continent of Gaia…Champion captain of the Bodhum Guardian Corps …and the guy that can completely annihilate an entire PSICOM unit by himself. Cloud Strife you're reputation precedes you." Cloud nodded towards the woman-called-Fang's greeting, admittedly being made slightly uncomfortable at the knowledge that his (as Captain Matsuki called it) fame still followed him, even under circumstances such as these.

"Hey! Good to see you again kid!" Sazh bellowed, pulling Cloud out of his awkward thoughts as he and Snow tag-teamed patting his shoulders.

"Cloud," started Snow, he took something large from his back and held out its velvety handle; Cloud reclaimed mastery of the _Buster Sword_ with a look of awe. "I promised I'd give that back to you, didn't I?" said Snow with his usual flashy grin; he nodded appreciatively, fastening the sword to his back. It was here, however, that Cloud turned his gaze towards the final member of the group.

Lightning had returned to her feet and was standing near the fire staring at Cloud with a very intense look. Cloud returned the look, connecting orbs of deepest Mako blue with those of pale aqua; the expression she wore would normally have made much braver men cringe but it was her eyes that really sealed the moment. They did not reflect the angry frown that cracked across her beautiful features, instead, they were filled with joy and relief. Stepping out of Vanille's bone-crushing squeeze, Cloud moved slowly over to her.

"Hey Light-" He began slowly but was cut off as Lightning stepped forward and, moving like her namesake, left behind a sharp, biting pain as the back of her left hand collided with Cloud's cheek. The spikey-haired warrior flexed his jaw several times before returning his eyes back to her, however, in an act that surprised Cloud very much, Lightning wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Good of you to join us," she said in a voice so low that only he could hear; Cloud's expression transitioned from surprise to a calm and accepting demeanor, curling his own around her waist and returned her welcome with a tight squeeze.

"Aw…_that's nice_"

The two, former, soldiers split apart (Cloud twisted his neck slightly); Vanille looked about ready to explode her fists unsuccessfully hiding dinner-plate sized eyes and the Cheshire cat grin on her face. Hope stared at her worriedly. But it was with Sazh, Snow and Fang where the worst of it came from: each wearing the same goofy but teasing expression on their faces. Cloud felt a small pressure on his chest force him backwards (Lightning had done so and crossed her arms stubbornly).

"It's late…" she said firmly, changing the subject as a flash of scarlet cutting across her cheeks "…let's call it a day, we'll figure out our next move tomorrow." She lightly thumped Cloud on the shoulder and moved towards the edge of the firelight, obviously to take the first watch. Not wanting to get the sense slapped out of him again, Cloud planted his back firmly against the wall of rock and slid into a sitting position, enduring the resumed chorus of 'Welcome back' and 'Good job'. He looked up to find Vanille standing over him and offering a folded square of straw-colored tarp.

"You should use this" she said with her typical friendly smile; Cloud accepted the material with a nod. Vanille leaned in close and whispered "Don't worry kid you'll get her next time!" She disappeared with a laugh and left Cloud looking rather dumbfounded, heat slashing across his face. Absentmindedly placing the burlap tarp behind his head and coiling his elbow around the silky handle Cloud returned to the world of slumber.

…

Cloud's eyelids fluttered open. He had no idea what time it was, other than it was still very late because the moon sat on its perch high in the air. Unsuccessfully blinking the bleariness out of his eyes, he scanned the area: though he couldn't see very far as the dark abyss had reached a suffocating level. However, the fire still shone brightly in the darkness; sitting before him, with his back to him and tiredly lobbing chunks of wood into the fire pit, was Snow. Cloud scanned as far as his line of sight would allow until he found her. Light was sitting only a few inches away, her head turned away and breathing softly.

A cool, gentle night breeze blew through the camp; the pink-haired woman shivered, her arms automatically hugging her chest. Cloud took the burlap cushion from behind his head, unfurled it with a single fluid motion and wrapped it around her shoulders. Lightning shifted in her sleep causing a couple of locks to go rogue and cover her face; Cloud smiled gently and, taking care not to waken her, brushed it way and tucking them behind her ear. As he watched her sleep Cloud realized what it was about her that fascinated him: they were the same on so many levels. Leaders of a rag-tag band of people charged with saving their homes but still needing guidance themselves; smiling softly, Cloud sighed contently before closing his eyes and falling back asleep.

…

Cloud did not want to open his eyes, not for the third time in less than twenty-four hours, but he could not control the autonomous action and forced them to do so slowly. It was early, the morning birds still chirping flippantly as they searched diligently for their breakfast and the golden flooded sky was beginning to change into its usual blue.

Blinking the bleariness out of his eyes an odd smell wafted into Cloud's nostrils, the very faint but distinct smell of strawberries. Lifting his head, he found the source immediately under his nose; curled under the tarp blanket and using his shoulder as a pillow was Lightning! Cloud stared at her for a moment before leaning her head back onto the wall of stone, where it lolled unawakening, and freed his shoulder. He took to his feet, stretched ostentatiously before making a proper examination of his surroundings. The camp was totally silent; Vanille was curled up in a squashy patch of grass, Fang's arm wrapped comfortably around her. Snow lay spread-eagle near the long-dead fire, snoring violently. Hope rested on his opposite side using Sazh stomach as a pillow (though Cloud found this incredible as the pilot snored more aggressively than Snow).

Cloud breathed deeply, he needed to think and he needed a private place to do it (not counting a silent camp filled with sleeping people). He marched, traipsing silently out of the camp and up the cavern-like path.

"_What's the matter with you_?" Cloud thought menacingly "_You came here to die not start falling in love_!" He froze in his walking: had he just admitted what he thought he was admitting? Was he really falling in love with Lightning? He continued on, however forced and awkward, but was able to confess to himself…yes. Despite everything, his constant moaning and self-loathing, he couldn't have been any happier to be able to spend his last amount of time with her.

He came to a halt as the sound of running water reached his ears; stepping out into an clearing, Cloud found several balmy trees surrounding a shallow stream, with a large quantity of crystal clear water running off the edge of the cliff. Crumpling to his knees, shoving his hands into the icy water and splashing some of it over his face, Cloud noticed something in his choppy reflection. The velvety handle of the _Buster Sword_ sticking out from his back, stood out just as much as each of his golden spikes. Taking hold of the weapon, the ex-SOLDIER stared hypnotically into the swirling pattern on the steel; in all honesty, this was one of the things on this continent that Cloud never expected to see again but, once again, his possessions had shown their infallible tendency to return him.

"None of us should travel alone" said a voice from behind, startling Cloud; he returned to his feet, spinning violently, only to hold the tip of the _Buster Sword's_ edge level only with Hope's throat.

"Geez kid, you trying to get yourself killed?" Cloud hissed angrily lowering his weapon "Don't sneak up on anything, _especially out in the wild_!"

"Sorry" said Hope quietly looking thoroughly ready to wet himself "I just needed to talk to you." Cloud stared at the boy as he placed his sword on his back: something was different about him. It wasn't something that he could name but he seemed as though he'd certainly gotten bolder in their time apart.

"About?"

"Well-and not that I'm ungrateful or anything but-what are you doing here?"

Cloud could feel the blood drain from his face "Why do you ask?"

"_Us_ coming down to Pulse was our only option to escape Cocoon-but _you_ turning up here, and when we needed you no less…why are you here? How did you get here?"

Planting his back against one of the trees the spikey-haired man expelled another sigh, seeing the effects of Light's words and training. Looking Hope dead in the eyes Cloud paused; what was he going to say? How could he explain what had happened without alerting Hope towards his situation? As far as he was considered, the less any of them knew the better; he could feel his shoulders sink in the revelation that as far as he'd come, he hadn't moved anywhere off of square one.

"Well the why…I can't really explain…" Cloud started slowly, choosing his words very carefully, "…the how, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

Cloud chuckled and scratched the back of his head, managing (rather stupidly) "I…er…_I fell_." Hope snorted, obviously believing that he was joking, but did not pursue the subject any further.

Suddenly the boys gaze turned upward "Hey check it out!" he said; following his eyes, Cloud found what he was looking at: perched atop the trees was a batch of bright green fruit.

"I bet I can get some of those" said Hope unfolding his boomerang but upon seeing Cloud's blank look, "Not a good idea to travel on an empty stomach." Winding up his arm, the silver-haired boy unleashed his weapon; the boomerang swirled higher and higher around the tree but returned to its master unsuccessful in its mission.

"Need to be higher-give me a boost!" cried the boy with restored dynamism; Cloud sighed impatiently but interlaced his fingers into a cup and lifted him onto his shoulders. "Just hold still" said Hope (Cloud grunted in aggravation as the boy used his head for a step-up again). There was a heavy shift and Hope swayed uncontrollably; Cloud widened his legs, straightened his back and gripped Hope's ankles tightly. However their rapid destabilization caused Cloud to fall forward until the two of them hit the ground with a correlated "OOF!" Pushing his face out of the dirt, the spikey-haired warrior found the world to be raining lime-colored fruits, one of them bearing a yellow-and-blue boomerang lodged inside it. Cloud suddenly felt the urge to laugh. He turned towards Hope, expecting for him to be shaking in a fit of it, but found him staring up with quite an unfathomable look in his eyes.

"Hey Cloud," he said softly "I've been thinking about this for a while now…no matter how much Light protests: _I want you guys to just leave me behind_." Cloud stared at the boy with a look of utmost incredulousness.

"We aren't leaving you behind!" retorted Cloud fiercely, though wishing he hadn't after seeing a seeing a single tear slid down the boy's cheek.

"I'm scared" the boy choked; Cloud felt bad for him, he wasn't like Lightning, himself or even Vanille, he was just an ordinary junior high school student whose life was thrown into a tizzy just because of some summer trip. He didn't have the survival skills that would give him the confidence to stay alive.

"Look," said Cloud soothingly, pulling the boy to his feet, "You're not in this alone; besides, you've got Light and me to keep you safe." His insides seemed to become very tight, he'd only five months (maybe less) left to live and yet he was making promises that he couldn't keep.

"That's what scares me!" sobbed the boy hysterically "I don't want to see anyone get hurt because of me…it would be better for everyone if I just stayed behind!" The boy cried out in pain, clutching at his wrist; Cloud reached for As Hope began glowing a runic design of brightest lime green, Cloud reached for _Ascalon_ but found nothing but air. It then occurred to him that he'd left camp without any weapon other than the _Buster Sword_! A small noise achieved his attention and he turned to find the Chocobo chick flutter into his hand, chirping wildly.

"Go get Lightning and the others!" he said to the tiny golden bird, the tiny bird turned towards him and stared with confused eyes. "NOW!" Cloud ordered; the chick jumped, startled, but began flapping its little wings until they moved in a blur and then took off at a speed Cloud wouldn't have thought possible for such a small creature. Turning back towards the boy, he watched in shock as something large and heavy dropped like a sarsen from the heavens.

Cloud stood as a barrier between Hope as he examined their enemy: it was a mammoth humanoid-being (easily ten-feet tall), clad in heavy pearly armor and stared blankly at them with doleful green eyes.

"Looks like we can't avoid this" said Cloud holding his sword aloft and looking sideways towards the silver-haired boy, noting the shocked look on his face.

"HOPE!" thundered Cloud, snapping his companion out of his stupor "Look, I can't do this without you and you've taken one of these down before so you _can_ do it again!" This appeared to be all that the boy needed as he drew his boomerang out of the fruit and stood side-by-side with Cloud.

Snapping his fingers (and ignoring the bright yellow shine in the corner of his eye), he could feel the blazing aura of crimson and gold surround him and his silver-haired partner, making him stronger and faster. However, their pearly armored foe lifted its gargantuan fist; the world trembled alongside a deafening 'BOOM' as the ground beneath them exploded. Cloud hit the ground hard, his temple absorbing most of the blow. Giving himself a good shake, he returned to his feet with a hefty leap, however, an alien but incredible sensation of tickling warmth crept down his back; shifting his gaze, he found Hope enveloping himself in a soft white, healing light.

Lifting the _Buster Sword_, Cloud charged; skidding to a halt and squaring his legs, he swung the heavy blade upward and then transitioned into a smooth slash down. Twisting the blade so that the edge faced the sky, he dragged the blade in an upward-diagonal and then quickly reversed the flow of the attack and attacked again. Unfortunately, the blade bounced away harmlessly all four times; suddenly, as the massive enemy lifted his hand, it became encased in a large block of ice. Reacting quickly, Cloud barely had enough time to dodge as a group of thunderbolts that rained down from the sky, shattering the ice and spraying the freed summon with shrapnel. However, the Eidolon rocked on its feet and swung its open hand towards its summoner.

Charging without thinking, Cloud moved before the boy, squaring his legs and holding the tip of his sword towards the ground, and his world erupted into pain and entropy as the metallic hand mercilessly smashed into him and sent him crashing into Hope. The duo hit the ground rolling, but Cloud thrust the _Buster Sword_ into the ground and seized the young man around the collar of the boys jacket before either of them toppled over the edge of the cliff. Panting, the duo looked at each other with the same idea in their eyes: they were getting nowhere fast!

"Cloud-do you think you can get that big guy in the air?" Hope wheezed; turning back to examine the stationary summon, Cloud voiced his conclusion that it would be tough but not an impossible feat. Using the boy's idea as a guide, he gripped his sword tightly and lunged forward stabbing the tip of the _Buster Sword_ directly in the opening under the arm. Taking the handle with two hands and straining every muscle in his body Cloud watched the impressive sight of the ten-ton giant soar towards the sky. Spinning on his heel and moving as if rehearsed, Cloud launched his arm upward catapulting Hope upward; turning his neck upward so fast that it cricked, he was in time to watch as the young man slapped his Eidolon's face with two atomic blasts of fire. As he fell back to the ground, Hope flung forth his boomerang and struck the pearly chest-plate with one final ball of flame.

Dropping the _Buster Sword_ and holding out his arms, Cloud caught the young sorcerer and cushioned his fall as they both hit the ground. The both of them heaved air heavily but, turning their eyes towards their enemy's last location, they did not find the massive summon; instead, there was a tiny green light, buoyantly falling back to the ground.

Despite himself, Cloud laughed. "That's some beast you tamed" he said, flourishing his sword before placing it on his back; Hope stared down at the star-shaped crystal (which disappeared in a flash of lime green, a color that the l'Cie brand on his wrist glowed in reciprocation).

"Look Hope, _that's_ the kind of power you've got inside of you!" said Cloud, putting a calming hand on the boys shoulder "It was here to show you that you've got what it takes to get back on your feet and do what needs to be done! Take this as a sign Hope: don't you give up, not yet." He released Hope's shoulder, stifling the feelings of hypocrisy of his statement.

"I-I always thought the Eidolons appeared to free us through death…" Hope admitted, dropping his wrist and looking Cloud straight in the eyes "…But now that I know they're here to snap us out of our slumps, they don't seem as evil to me anymore. _Thanks Cloud_, for everything." Cloud nodded but turned his gaze away from Hope's, feeling that he didn't deserve any thanks.

The thundering mass of falling footsteps echoed wildly throughout the cavern-like path, when suddenly, Lightning and the others came into view (lead by the chirping chick).

"What's going on?" said Lightning looking slightly harassed but very relieved "_What happened_?"

"Nothing in particular," said Cloud casually (hearing Hope stifle a snigger) "Went looking for some food (he pointed lazily towards the fruit on the ground), did a little bit of catching up and wiping the floor with an Eidolon…you know, the usual stuff."

Upon seeing the mutually blank look on all of their faces, Cloud folded his arms as Hope took control and explained their fight with his summon.

"ARE YOU BOTH ALRIGHT?" Vanille squealed, beginning a thorough examination of the two men, apparently looking for signs of any serious damage.

"We're fine-stop that!" said Cloud snatching his arm out of the girl's grip "Actually, it was Hope that came up with the idea of how to beat it." He turned to his young friend, who looked abashed with a sheepish grin, and winked confidently; the group grinned impression (Vanille turned her full, doting, attention to him).

As they made their way back towards camp, chomping down on their fruit (which were very rich but very watery) Cloud turned to Lightning. She ate her fruit like the rest but kept casting her gaze towards him; "Hey," said Cloud, drawing Lightning's attention "You okay?"

Lightning nodded; Cloud stared at her disbelievingly. She stared distractedly into her fruit, before admitting "I thought you'd left again."

Cloud bit into his own watery food, staring off into the distance. It wasn't like she was unjustified thinking this: he was notorious for running away (or so he was told). "What changed your mind about that?" he questioned, genuinely curious. He watched in surprise as she (with a flourish) held up Cloud's fully fused sword before flipping the blade reverse and held out the handle.

"You left this behind" she said simply with a tiny smile; Cloud took the weapon, reciprocating her smile, and placed it against his back. The two of them suddenly became very aware of how far they'd lagged very far behind but, seeing as how neither made any move to speed up, neither one cared; it became very apparent to Cloud just how beautiful this morning really was.

As the duo returned to the camp, they found the other five in a circle and in deep discussion (they were able to rejoin the group.

"So how are we supposed to proceed?"

Sazh question was one that had brought them all to silence; Cloud, however, looked at all of them with raised eyebrows.

"What are you talking about? Let's get out of here."

The six of them stared at him incredibly; suddenly it hit Cloud like one of Tifa's punches. They'd been here for three days and had no idea…

"Come on" he said marching past Snow and leading them on. He led them further down the cavern-like trail until they had arrived at his discovery: the long bridge of moss covered pipe, acting as the only barrier between them, the jagged path on the opposite ledge and the bottomless drop. He chuckled privately as he heard Sazh whisper ("How did we miss this?").

Planting his boot firmly onto the rusty pipe Cloud took the first step forward, it creaked and whined (drawing a conjoined gasp from behind) but did not collapse. Continuing the long trapeze act and rejecting the ever nauseating urge to look down as the wind toyed with him, the spikey-haired man finally came to the other ledge. Turning back, he watched as Lightning led the others across.

Sazh laughed "Not so tough now, huh?" He stomped his boot victoriously across the pipe; there was a loud creak and then a deafening screech as the pipe collapsed on itself and disappeared into the chasm below. Cloud and Light stifled laughs as Sazh looked positively mortified, though Snow and Vanille held no such restraints.

**Well I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter (even though it was mainly just to reintroduce the characters). Yes, I realize that Lightning's reunion with Cloud was slightly OOC but it was the best I could come up with (if you have anything better I implore you, tell me). I also must apologize for the very sloppy ending; anyway, hope you liked it and don't forget to review :-)**


	12. Chapter 10 part 1

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

Hope led the charge out of the tunnel; the bright afternoon sun shone so powerfully that Cloud had to temporarily shield his eyes behind his hand. After a moment to regain himself he set his hand down and allowed himself his first look at the continent of Gran Pulse.

Before them lay a massive expanse of grassland, the menacing mountains still encircling the plains but nowhere close to the ominousity as before; in the distance of an unforgettably blue sky, was Cocoon. Cloud found it strange for a continent to support trillions of people to look the size of a baseball from a distance.

"Vanille, look familiar?" asked Fang, with a playful and welcoming smile on her face; the red-haired girl smiled happily.

"Yep…Welcome to the Archylte Steppe everybody!" the girl announced to the group "The spine and body of Gran Pulse and the gateway to Oerba!"

Cloud chuckled at her enthusiasm but couldn't deny his thoughts on the massive expanse. After hearing Lightning's tale and all that they'd been through since he'd left, they only had two more days before Barthandelus intended for his master plan to unravel.

"That's a lot of open space" said Hope, reading the look on Cloud's face "It's gonna take time to cross this."

"Hey don't worry" laughed Snow "Heroes never give up! We'll just grit our teeth and cover what ground we can."

"No: the kid's got a point" said Fang pointedly, effectively wiping the smile off of Snow's face "Doesn't matter how fast we walk, it could take weeks to cross the Steppe on foot. Not to mention we still need to find the right path to Oerba."

"How do we get there?"

Fang pointed towards the distant sphere; "Oerba was very close to Cocoon, as long as we keep that in our sights we're heading in the right direction."

Lightning stepped forward with a serious look on her face "Right, let's go." She turned towards Cloud and he nodded encouragingly. It felt weird being the column of support for her, she was always so strong a person, and yet he found himself not minding one bit. The group moved forward, passing the endless sea of green grass and monsters (either serenely enjoying the day with a slow, steady walk or trying to kill each other in bloodthirsty duels) too busy to notice them.

After about twenty minutes, Sazh threw his arms up in surrender. "I give up!" he moaned, doubling over wheezing. Cloud paused next to him as he caught his breath, a thoughtful finger rose to his lips; the pilot was right. Despite how much ground they'd covered, the fact of the matter was they had very little headway, the distant sphere tantalizingly refusing to come nearer…they needed something fast (Cloud suddenly felt a surge of affection towards Cid's airship _Highwind_).

"If only we had some Chocobo's!"

There is it was: the magic words that gave Cloud that welcome, euphoric moment of eureka: of course, how could he have been so stupid?!

"That's it!" He said it so loudly and so suddenly that it caused all six of his companions to jump.

Turning his gaze to the ground Cloud began looking, ignoring the outcries of surprise and irritation, straining his eyes as he searched. They had to be somewhere. It had been his mantra back on Gaia and he found himself repeating it over and over as he looked. Then he found it! Pressed into the ground were the impressions of triple-clawed feet; however, the earth that held their image was hot, solid and completely dry, the frustrating sign of old tracks.

Cloud, however, was not discouraged; he pushed onward, still ignoring the confusion he'd created. The tracks were heading southeast and he followed them disregarding the growls from territorial beasts that snarled as he neared. To his excitement, the surrounding area looked like a small army of rabbits had emerged from it with a multitude of holes littering the ground; however, rabbits did not leave behind the remnants of triangular green plants that only the massive golden birds ate. Dropping to his knees, Cloud drove his fingers into the earth and began to dig.

He hadn't been digging for very long when he discovered some more of the plants, albeit three of them but this would have been better than presenting scraggly Gysahl's to a Chocobo. Taking hold of the plants and returning to his feet (taking a moment to stretch his stiff leg muscles) he found them! A hundred yards off was a tiny pond with a flock of fourteen massive birds surrounding it; Cloud took a calming deep breath. Chocobo's, though friendly and loyal creatures, were highly skittish and easily offended (especially wild ones) and it would take all of his breeding knowledge to try and win a couple over.

He took a step forward, and then another, and another; inching his way towards them at a respectable but painstakingly slow pace. Suddenly, one of them turned its long eared head in his direction (he froze instantly) and then another; soon enough, Cloud found himself staring down the rather intimidating sight of an entire flock of Chocobo's. All fifteen of them stood stone still when something as incredible as it was terrifying happened:

A giant Chocobo, with its head held high and moving in a slow saunter, stepped from the twitchy crowd and its long legs carrying it over towards Cloud. And then: the two of them stood merely inches apart; quickly remembering the plants tucked in his pockets, Cloud wrenched one of them out and held it out to the Chocobo chief. The enormous bird leaned in close and sniffed the tiny green carefully. Faster than a flash the chief knocked his hand with its sharp beak, sending the plant flying; opening its beak widely, the Chocobo lifted its head and fluidly caught the Gysahl in its mouth.

Cloud breathed calmly; the easy part (the peaceful gesture) was done and now was the hard part: the trust test! Holding himself up tall (not to assert dominance but to show off his lack of fear for the gigantic bird) Cloud stared Mako blue into unblinking, bloodshot eyes. They stood there staring each other down (Cloud's eyes began to water but refused to blink), the birds doleful eyes peering down into his very soul. And then, the Chocobo bent its knobby knees and lay its long neck onto Cloud's shoulder; the spikey-haired man grinned in success and lightly stroked the birds' fluffy golden feathers.

"Kweh!" the other Chocobo's cried happily and then moved over to their chief; several of them curiously sniffed Cloud's spikey-locks, others were simply more interested in the remaining treats in his pocket.

"Friend I need your help" said Cloud to the Chocobo chief; the massive creature stared at him intently.

"Do you see that?" he pointed his chin towards the distant sphere-that-was-Cocoon "Someone is planning on crashing that onto the ground, and if Cocoon is destroyed life on Pulse will end! My friends and I can stop it but we need passage across the steppe; will you help us?"

The colossal Chocobo's bloody-red eyes looked him over with a meditative gaze and then…

"WARK!"

The gaggle flock immediately fell silent by the earsplitting shriek that caused Cloud to jam his fingers in his ears. The giant chief turned from Cloud and began speaking to his followers with a melodious chorus of chirp-like "Kweh."

Wishing he understood Chocobo, Cloud watched in astonishment at the birds system of communication trying to read the conversation but was only successful in the terrified squawks and distrusting looks in his direction. Several moments later, three Chocobo's stepped forward; two were a pair of young and chipper birds that nipped at each other playfully while the third was a rather surly creature that rivaled its chief in size and kept casting suspicious looks at him. The chief, however, stepped forward and knelt down low enough for its golden breast to touch the earth; it stared Cloud dead in the eyes and smoothly nodded.

"Thank you" said the spikey-haired man quietly and, putting his boot squarely behind the wing joint and hoisting his leg over the bird, taking a seat on the chiefs back. There was the stomach lurching wrench as the Chief returned to his full height, easily lifting Cloud off the ground; he turned back to the flock and released another chorus of "Kweh." With that, the flock took off in a full run in the opposite direction and the four Chocobo's set off at a long steady trot with Cloud guiding him with his knees.

Finding the group wasn't that hard, it would have been a very difficult and impressive feat trying to make the only humans on the continent look inconspicuous. However, Cloud had to transform laughter into a hacking cough upon seeing his friend's faces as he rode up with the enormous birds.

"Nice one!" said Fang with a wink as she stroked the beak of the surly Chocobo, whose eyes closed in blissful delight.

"So…er, how do we do this?" asked Sazh as the Chick charged out of his hair and began to play with the two young birds. Cloud stared at him incredibly, if anyone (besides himself) were to have knowledge or experience with Chocobo's he naturally assumed it would have been Sazh!

"It's simple: just get on-" Cloud's voice faded as the chief lowered himself so that Lightning could throw her leg over and take a seat behind him. It took all of Cloud's self-control to avoid looking at Lightning as the heat cut across his cheeks. With another stomach churning lurch, the chief returned to his full height and, with the surly Chocobo (carrying a confident Fang and a wobbly Sazh) by his side, set off at its easy sprint.

"Hey…er…good job" said a voice awkwardly from behind; Cloud twisted his neck to find Lightning, her gaze downward, though her cheeks were as red as his own. Feeling the necessary urge to respond, he kept to his bases and spat out the first intelligent thing that came to mind.

"Don't mention it"

The two of them fell silent, swaying with the rhythmic movement to the Chocobo's gallop; suddenly Lightning shouted:

"SNOW, VANILLE! CUT THAT OUT!"

The tall warrior and the red-head girl (Hope being dragged along as well) were currently engaged in a race, the two chipper birds necks lay flat as they ran. The surly Chocobo clucked its beak indignantly but the chief merely shook his head, exasperated; Cloud chuckled to himself: for someone who didn't want to be a leader, Lightning had definitely come into her own even if it meant acting like a mother.

The chief acted on instinct, taking them as quickly and silently through the expanse of grass; after nearly an hour, Snow (whose Chocobo had charged on ahead) called to the group, snapping Cloud out of his sleepy daze: "There's a way through here!"

Snow's steed led the group down into a gorge bellow when they had at last come to another rock face, whose only fallacy lay in the gapping crack that ran up the mountain, creating a long, deep trench. However, the Chocobo chief froze, an action that was immediately and unhesitantly mimicked by the three members of his flock, staring intently at the pathway but remained adamantly still. Ignoring Snow's impatient attempts to make his Chocobo move, Cloud leaned towards the chief and whispered:

"You're not going to take us any further, are you?" The massive bird turned its head so that a single, blood-red eye looked at him and slowly shook his head. Cloud sighed, whether or not the great bird was doing this because of unfamiliar territory or simply protecting its followers, he did not know; he did know, however, that it was not his place to argue.

"Looks like the rides over" Cloud announced swinging his boot over the side of the chief's back and sliding back onto the ground. Fang grunted but Sazh looked rather relieved to finally get off the bird ("A distanced admirer, who would've guessed?"); Snow also looked rather unhappy but did as he was told, easily dismounting the bird who began to cheer him up by jumping up and down excitedly. As he turned back to face their leader, Cloud found Lightning, having already dismounted and much to his surprise, stroking the enormous Chocobo's feathery neck. The chief nipped her ear affectionately before giving Cloud one last, playful look before turning to his three followers and uttered a firm "Kweh." The four Chocobo's took off up the path they'd come and disappeared from sight though their thunderous footfalls could still be distinctly heard. Cloud stared after them both thankful and slightly taken aback; was even the chief of a flock of Chocobo's telling him to hurry up with Lightning?! He hung his head, embarrassed.

"I don't like this" said Hope darkly, staring uneasily into the passageway; Cloud, feeling equally uneasy but doing a much better job of hiding it, placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Easy there kid."

With the group remaining still, Cloud turned to Lightning and nodded encouragingly. Taking a deep breath, the pink-haired l'Cie took the first steps down the path.

Their march did not last very long, ten minutes hadn't passed by the time the soft crunch of grass had been replaced by squishy, mud-red clay. The air was getting cooler, as though they'd unknowingly entered into a cave and the sun had become completely blocked by the towers of stone and the circular, metallic shafts that began to hold their way up. Then, in what made Cloud look down so fast that he nearly cricked his neck, the squish became a dull '_thunk_'; instead he was now standing on a large metal platform inside a gargantuan stone atrium. Looking around, the spikey-haired man found himself thoroughly impressed: whatever act of nature had made this place (along with the adjoining tunnels) had made them, down to the last diameter, completely perfect.

"A Pulse Fal'Cie made this path" said Fang, examining the tunnel more closely.

"Yep" agree Vanille cheerily "Though it's probably off digging more right now." Hope stared all around the atrium but Cloud could tell that he was listening intently.

"They seem different from all the Fal'Cie we've seen on Cocoon, you know? It's like they just plow through without caring what happens around them."

"That's true" Fang agreed but calmly explained "Then again, we were able to build our village on land cleared by Fal'Cie: we lived alongside them just like you do on Cocoon."

"Oh yeah this is just like Cocoon" laughed Sazh sarcastically, though this warranted him a fist-to-hip frown from the dark-haired Pulsian.

"In a world this big" said Lightning, her arms folded stubbornly but her voice filled with awe, "Who knows what we'll find!" Cloud grinned, despite herself Lightning was a right old adventurer: the truest mark of any leader.

The group continued onward, Cloud was becoming increasingly uneasy: they were in a cave so where was all of the indigenous fauna? It was just too quiet for his tastes. Suddenly, Cloud ran headlong into Snow, who had abruptly stopped, "Did you hear something?"

Cloud strained his ears and even went as far as to hold his breath for silence and, initially, heard nothing. The world began to tremble before it began shaking so violently that it threw all seven of them to the ground; quickly returning to his feet and taking hold of his fused swords, Cloud watched in dumbfounded disbelief at what came forward.

From out of the darkness tumbled a boulder. This wasn't an average boulder, however, as it was roughly a quarter the size of Cocoon and sported a quickly rotating ring of fluorescent orange. The boulder, or whatever it was, barreled past them and then disappeared down the length of the tunnel; Cloud stared after it before coming back to his senses and began helping his friends up.

"Let me guess: that's a Fal'Cie" said Cloud sardonically, pulling Lightning to her feet. Vanille smiled and nodded,

"Yep, busy carving out new tunnels."

"Making roads where road's aren't meant to go huh?" Snow laughed flippantly "_Sounds like us_! All right, Roly-Poly; let's hitch a ride on that thing!"

"Now you're thinking Gran Pulse style!"

Cloud felt a grin cut across his face; their plan to use a Fal'Cie to help them in their quest to fight other Fal'Cie was borderline crazy, however, he couldn't deny that the attempt would be enormously fun! The group of seven set off at a run, following the earthquake and mass amounts of carnage that fell from the walls and ceiling. Suddenly, a pressure wrapped itself around Cloud's middle and forcibly threw him backwards just as a boulder the size of his motorcycle collapsed to the ground right where Cloud had been standing not seconds before. Turning and giving Sazh an appreciative nod, the two men were soon back on their feet and moving as fast as possible to make up for lost ground. However, as evident by Cloud nearly plowing into Vanille, their run had come to a total halt as the walkable trail had all but vanished before them. (Sazh made a derogatory comment about the Fal'Cie's work ethic).

Collectively, the group moaned; their chance of getting that Fal'Cie had quickly and violently come to an end as the quaking and rumbling began to become more and more distant. Cloud folded his arms and closed his eyes meditatively; what were they supposed to do? There was nowhere left to them to go, no other way forward.

A bloodcurdling scream rang throughout the cavern; Cloud instinctively reached for his sword but found Hope atop a machine similar to the one from the outskirts of Cocoon and controlling it with equal grace.

"It's the Vile Peaks all over again!" Lightning groaned, releasing her weapon and slapping a hand over her eyes in exasperation. Suddenly, the entire group jumped in terror as the bulky machine toppled over the edge of the platform it stood on and taking the silver-haired boy with it. Cloud looked down into the large crevice and found the machine broken, parts littering the floor, and Hope lying spread-eagle on his back.

"HOPE GET OUT OF THERE!"

"Don't worry I got him" said Cloud calmly before pushing with his knees and felt the soaring sensation of his drop. He landed with a grace that could have done Light proud and quickly moved over to his breathless friend, offering him a hand. Hope gladly accepted when suddenly a disconcerted look crossed his face.

"Does that sound like it's getting _closer_ to you?"

The duo turned their heads towards the blackness of the tunnel before them and, to Cloud's horror, the violent trembling resumed with its usual fierceness and coming nearer with every second. Cloud began to act on instinct; taking Hope roughly by the collar he forced every last ounce of effort into his arm muscles and launched the boy over the wall of dirt and back onto the platform above.

A loud 'CRASH' caused Cloud to avert is gaze. Out of the furious darkness, spinning at an unstoppable speed, came the boulder-like Fal'Cie; Cloud's mind raced. There was nowhere for him to go, but if he didn't move (and do so quickly) he was going to be flattened like a pancake!

"Cloud!" bellowed a voice from overhead; tearing his eyes away from the rapidly approaching boulder, he found Lightning, dangling from the platform, reaching a hand out for him. Taking hold of her hand, an ear-splitting shriek cut across the air, bouncing raucously off the cavernous walls; Cloud cringed at the pain of the offensive sound that attacked his ears. Turning his line of sight over to the source, Cloud found a very surprising sight: several of robots, similar to the one that Hope had driven over the edge, had leapt down from the higher platforms to try and defend their fallen friend; the spinning boulder rammed mercilessly into them, engaging in violent but completely silent struggle.

"What are they doing?" wondered Lightning as four more machines braced themselves against their stationary comrades. However, the boulder continued its normal fast-paced rotation before slowly revolving to a halt; the Ex-SOLDIER let out a relieved, stress-filled sigh.

"You okay?" asked a concerned Lightning as Snow and Fang hauled them back onto the platform; Cloud nodded, shaken but truthfully. Snow let out a victorious cheer:

"Well _that_ was cool, _go robot guys_!"

"Good lesson for us" said Sazh in a mock prophetic voice "Not even a mighty Fal'Cie is a match for the power of teamwork…_that_ is inspiration right there!

_Oh hello_ came a slow and stupid voice that caused all seven of them to jump (Sazh outright screamed in terror), Cloud and Lightning instinctively reaching for their weapons, _Atomos didn't see you down there_.

"Who's there? Who are you?" barked Lightning crossly. The cavern was silent for a moment (Cloud shifted his gaze carefully) before the voice responded:

_It is Atomos_.

"_Where are you_?"

There was another stagnant pause, when suddenly the boulder revved violently, drawing the attention of the entire group.

_Atomos is right here silly_.

Cloud raised his eyebrows, exchanging incredulously looks with Light; they were speaking to the Fal'Cie and it-however idiotically-was speaking back.

"Alright, Atomos" began Cloud calmly "We've come a long way and we need to get to Oerba, can you give us a lift?"

The boulder-like Fal'Cie was silent for a moment before responding: _Of course Atomos can but Atomos wishes you wouldn't go there_.

"WHAT?" asked Fang sharply; Cloud noticed her and Vanille each gave the Fal'Cie a nasty look. Before either of them could become mutinous Cloud asked, tactfully more calm:

"Why is that?"

_Well_, _to get to the village you'd have to go through Taejin's Tower and that's where Dahaka lives_. _Don't go there_, _Atomos doesn't like Dahaka very much_; _every time Atomos make a new tunnel_ _Dahaka always flies over and makes it collapse_!

Cloud exchanged bemused looks with Lightning. The fact that a Fal'Cie, the god-like beings of the worlds above and below, was giving them personal travel advice _was_ rather amusing. "Thank you, but we'll take risk."

_Very well_ replied Atomos lamely; the release of compressed air hissed across the dank cavern and a circular door slid open on the Fal'Cie's side. _Get in_, _Atomos will take you as far as the end of the Subterra_.

Following the Fal'Cie's instructions, Cloud clambered into the opening but getting all seven of them to fit inside was going to take nothing short of a miracle. It was claustrophobia inducing tight, not to mention that Snow and himself dominated most of the room, however, from whatever miracle, the remaining l'Cie packed themselves into the crowded little compartment. There was a whir and a small 'Click' when the group was engulfed into chaos as they began tumbling head over heels as Atomos hummed and trembled roughly as he tossed his passengers like a salad. However, not to be discredited for having no manners, the Fal'Cie did regale them with his complete life story; however, Cloud's stomach was ready to betray him and he slapped a hand over his mouth to keep from vomiting.

_Well it does get kind of lonely here but there's too much work for Atomos to mind_. _Besides, all of Atomos company aren't very nice_: _Sister Anima disappeared centuries ago_…_brother Bismarck keeps mostly to himself_. _Brother Titan is always kind to Atomos and sister Dahaka only destroys Atomos hard work_-_why_, _Atomos remembers one time when Dahaka collapsed a tunnel while Atomos was still making it_…_Atomos was trapped for about four hundred years_…

"T-that's so-oof, ouch-so mean!" squealed Vanille as she both tumbled in the dryer and listened to the Fal'Cie's story. The Fal'Cie answered very callously, though Cloud quickly realized that he might have had only the vaguest idea as to what an emotion was figured that it thought it was being sincere:

_It's alright_, _Titan dug Atomos out and Atomos went back to making tunnels_.

"B-b-b-but why is Dahaka so mean to you?"

_It is what sister Dahaka does_, _Dahaka patrols the skies making sure there are no abnormalities on the ground_. _Atomos assumes Dahaka saw Atomos digging and thought Atomos was trouble_.

"Then how come you didn't roll your roly-poly butt out of here and kick that 'Taharka's', or whatever-its-name-is, ass?!" asked Snow rudely

Cloud rolled his eyes, he knew that Snow was trying to be his usual inspirational self and spur the Fal'Cie into action but Atomos fell silent.

_Atomos doesn't understand the question_.

"What?" the tall blond asked incredulously "Why didn't you go stand up for yourself?!"

_Because Atomos is here to dig tunnels_ replied the boulder in a tone that was a very good imitation of scandalized. _The Maker said to make tunnels and clear land and that is what Atomos does_.

_All Fal'Cie have their purposes_: _sister Dahaka's is to watch the sky_, _brother Titan's is to guard the Archylte Steppe and Atomos' purpose is to make tunnels and clear land_. _We are all here to do what we are meant to do because if we don't do what the Maker told us to do, then who is to do it? Why, Atomos knows nothing other than making tunnels and clearing land_.

Cloud became aware that he was listening with his mouth open and then stared sadly at his boots, though his gaze quickly shifted to the top of the compartment and then to Lightning's back (they were still spinning). He felt sorry for him, this great Fal'Cie only did what he did because it was all that he knew how to do; it was like telling a child not to do anything except stand and wait for you to come back and then never coming to retrieve them. To Cloud, it felt like Atomos had a very cruel joke played on him and, from the bottom of his heart, he felt sorry for Atomos.

Suddenly, they stopped; slamming into one another, Cloud felt an intense pain in his lower back as someone fell on him and began cutting off the circulation to his foot.

_Here we are_ said Atomos in a false, cheery tone _Just follow the path and you'll be at Taejin's Tower_.

The group mumbled words of thanks to the giant but quickly, albeit silently, fought to be the first out of the claustrophobic compartment. However, as Hope when flying out (Followed by Vanille, who was roaring with laughter) the compartment became much less cramped as Sazh, Fang and Lightning filed out. Pushing himself into a standing position a sudden, curious sensation washed over Cloud, making him nauseous and dizzy.

Suddenly, his chest exploded! It was pain far beyond any he'd ever felt before, his very bones were on fire!

_The end nears for you_, _Cloud_. The antagonizing voice surged across his ears as crimson geysered from his mouth; Cloud clutched his chest feeling as though it was about to rip him in two. Breathing hard and gripping at the metal walls, he barely made out a faint cry of surprise as the world went topsy-turvy before suddenly fading to black.

_Don't worry_, _soon it will all be over_.

Feeling returned first as the sensation of crisp, cool night air caressed his skin; he merely assumed that it was night as he could smell the smoke from a gentle fire and the darkness beyond his closed eyelids was simply asphyxiating. Opening his eyes slowly, Cloud was greeted by a sea of twinkling stars amidst a blanket of black and navy silk; a sharp gasp surged to his ears, upsetting his thundering headache, causing him to flinch, and an excited Vanille cried:

"You're awake!"

"Cloud!" came another, equally relieved voice and Hope came around into his line of sight "How are you feeling?" Cloud looked the two of them over, before digging his palms into the solid earth beneath him and began to push himself up, only to agitate his headache further.

"Whoa, whoa!" exclaimed a startled Vanille.

"Don't try and move!" Hope ordered gently ('_It's not trying if you're doing_,' Cloud thought sarcastically). "Here," sighed Hope as he and Vanille helped Cloud into a sitting position.

"No more overdoing things, okay?" said Vanille with cheer in her voice but concern in her eyes.

"What happened?" asked Cloud resting his forehead in his hand causing Hope and Vanille to exchange stunned looks.

"Don't you remember?"

"You collapsed inside Atomos" interjected Vanille upon seeing Cloud's look of confusion "It was terrifying: you were coughing up blood and you went really rigid, like you were having a fit, and then you just stopped moving! _We thought you were dead_!"

Cloud took several deep breaths attempting to absorb what they'd told him but he couldn't deny the plain fact, even from himself. He was no longer able to hide it from them: he'd have to tell them the truth.

"How about some water?" asked Vanille gently; Cloud nodded appreciatively and turned to Hope and asked:

"Where is everybody?"

"Snow and Light went looking for food and Sazh and Fang went to scout the area," he replied as Vanille returned with a mangled tin cup, sloshing water all over the place. Cloud accepted it graciously and quickly downed the cool drink.

"Well look who's awake" came a calm voice that was quickly followed by another extraordinarily loud voice "Hey, he lives!"

Cloud watched in silence as Fang and Sazh stepped into the light; suddenly, heavy footfalls brought his eyes moving into the opposing darkness.

"Hey sis, it looks like he's awake!"

Before Cloud could respond, a distant but heavy thud reached his ears, and suddenly his eyelid was being wrenched wide open and a sharp pain biting into his eye as a tiny but incredibly bright light was flashed into it.

"Lightning what are you doing?" asked Cloud as Lightning switched her tiny light to the other eye. She was muttering very quickly to herself, a prognosis of all things; Cloud repeated his question.

"I'm only checking to make sure you don't have any more relapses" she replied impatiently.

Cloud's gaze fell to his boots "I can't make any promises,"

Suddenly, sounding as though the breath had been knock from his chest, the pilot asked: "H-hold on: Cloud, are-are you sick?" The spikey-haired man did not answer.

"Cloud…" said Lightning softly and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder "…We can't help you if you won't let us."

Cloud turned to her, Lightning was smiling gently at him, and it warmed every fiber of his being but he couldn't stifle his feelings of regret. He sighed "When morning comes, you guys go on without me."

Pushing himself onto his knees, he tried his hardest, and ultimately failed, to ignore the disbelieving cry of his dark-skinned friend:

"_What_?"

"Cloud we're not leaving you behind!" said Lightning sternly, she and Cloud stared at each other hard, "We're in this together!"

"You'd do much better to forget all about me!" snapped Cloud tearing his eyes away from Light's.

"I don't believe this!" thundered Snow "After all that's happened, after everything we've been through: you still don't trust us!"

"Trust is a two-way street"

"_But we trust you_!"

"I DON'T DESERVE TO BE TRUSTED!" Cloud roared causing Hope and Vanille to gasp. "How can I expect to be trusted? You don't know a thing about me!"

"_Then why don't you enlighten us_?" said Lightning coldly; Cloud stood and turned his back to them, the group of seven fell silent, he could feel the intense looks of confusion and shock baring down on him.

"It's called Mako Withdrawal" he said after a moment "the Mako radiation in my body is slowly being converted into a highly toxic poison. At most, I was given six months to live; the only reason I came here was to find a merciful death." He sighed again, palpably feeling the looks of horror and dumbfoundedness on his friends faces; there it was: his cards laid down and secret revealed.

"You-you came to die?!" said Fang, a look of incredulousness upon her face and disgust apparent in her voice. Cloud tried to ignore this but was unsuccessful, so much for being this "hero" that they all saw him as.

"Well, I hate to disappoint you" said Lightning calmly but coolly "But you're not going anywhere." Cloud stared.

"You claim that you came here looking to die but you found quite the opposite waiting: Captain Matsuki, the entire Bodhum regiment, everyone here; all the while, you've done nothing but keep secrets and tell lies…" Lightning fell silent for a moment, looking like she was trying to keep her emotions reigned back "…you've been telling me from the start not to give up and you've been resigned the whole time?!"

"I was a hypocrite!"

"YOU WERE TRYING TO KEEP YOURSELF GOING!" Again Cloud stared, mouth gapping.

"You were so ready to accept what was happening that it scared the living hell out of you! You're days were numbered and you were so convinced that there wasn't a damn thing you could do about it that you ran and came here. Thought by joining the military you'd have a legitimate excuse to die or get killed…but you didn't count on _us_. You didn't count on any of this happening and you sure as hell didn't count on getting swept up in it! And as time moved forward you began to fight it, as our journey continued you started to care about us and that made you want to keep going."

Cloud met Lightning's eyes again; she had always been closest and most similar to him but she had at last managed to do what few others could: she was finally able to read him.

"Everyone here needs you" Lightning's voice became gentle and she took Cloud's hand in her own; Cloud stared down at it disbelievingly: she still wanted him around?

"Yeah, she's right!" Snow piped up, finally regaining the use of his voice "and who knows? Maybe your doctor on Gaia got it wrong, maybe there is something we can do."

"You're one of us Cloud, so we'll make it part of our Focus to help you" said Sazh pumping his fist into the air; Vanille and Hope both gave roars of delight and approval. Cloud stared at each of them; he couldn't believe that they were willing to help him despite how little he'd trusted them. However, good, loyal people were, often, a dime a dozen…no, they were no longer strange people: they were now his friends. Suddenly, Cloud screamed as a pain beyond pain erupted in his chest.

"Cloud! What is it?" cried Snow alarm clear across his face as Cloud crumpled to his knees.

"Run, NOW!" grunted Cloud, doubling over from the throbbing pain in his chest.

"Not this again!" snapped Lightning kneeling beside Cloud, her features equal with worry, "We are not going to abandon you!"

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Cloud roared with an unknown ferocity "He's coming…I won't be able to stop him…with all of you around;" a frighteningly bright green light embraced his body as welcomingly as ice water.

"WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?" raged Cloud "Sergeant Farron, get everyone away from here, THAT'S AN ORDER!" he added as Lightning looked ready to protest.

"Why?" Light shot back "Who is coming?"

"H-him…Sephiroth!"

"W-wait, wait!" cried Sazh "I thought you said he was dead!"

"He's part of me!" retorted Cloud his breathing heavy and raspy "This body functions on Mako and JENOVA cells, everything he needs to use me as a way back.

"Lightning, please, just go!" he said his voice no longer commanding, rather it was pleading. Lightning's expression made it clear that she did not want to abandon Cloud but for the safety of the rest of the group it had to be done.

"Let's go!" barked Lightning, despite some defiant looks they each quickly moved away; as Lightning turned to follow, she quickly turned back "Cloud? Just be careful, ok?"

"_GO_!"

Lightning had turned on her heel and disappeared into the black; the pain erupted again and then sight, sound and all feeling was lost in a blaze emerald. And then it was gone; as quick as it had come, for as long as it had lasted, the pain was simply gone; as Cloud gulped down several deep breaths, someone spoke to him: the voice was as silky as it was evil and what it said nearly made Cloud's heart stop. All it said was:

"Good to see you, again, Cloud."

Lifting his eyes up, Cloud met the green-eyed super-SOLDIER; he was exactly as he remembered him: long silver hair, clad in black leather, a black feathery wing over his right shoulder and his Masamune sword in his hand.

"Sephiroth, why are you here?" asked Cloud using his sword as a crutch, managing to his feet.

Sephiroth stared hard at him, "I've come, to finally rid myself of you once and for all"

"What?"

"You and I have battled in our own little war for years now and it is time to finally settle who is stronger;" faster than he had ever moved his hefty blade, Cloud made the first strike, attacking Sephiroth with an unknown ferocity. Sephiroth moved his blade as gracefully as though he were dancing, blocking and parrying attacks from the six combined swords easily.

Cloud's memories of his how his enemy fought were quickly coming back to him, but it was footing that he was more concerned with (with Sephiroth, one wrong step could easily cost him his life). He raised the massive blade over his head and as he brought it down in, what would have been, a very devastating downward slash; Sephiroth, with a flicking motion, countered by jabbing the pommel of his sword into the base of the massive sword and easily staggering Cloud. Without missing a beat, in one of the fastest spins he'd ever seen him perform, Sephiroth let out a wide slash that caught Cloud straight across his midriff. It was pain beyond any he'd ever felt before as four inches of steel cut through his body, splattering blood in all directions as he crashed back to the earth.

"You've gotten much more efficient with that sword, but Mako withdrawal has made you weak" said Sephiroth in his usual condescending voice; as he spoke, Cloud noticed a Lifestream-like light seep out alongside his blood. Moving his hand towards the wound, he found a burning pain in its place but the wound was completely healed. He heard a small grunt, lifting his body he found Sephiroth holding out his hand with a similar Lifestream leaking from his hand and the base of the Masamune stained crimson.

"My connection to the Lifestream and to you appear to have amplified…" said Sephiroth making note of the event "…Do you understand what this means?" he asked with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. "It means that you and I have achieved immortality…immune to pain and injury…we have truly have ascended past the mortals of this world, and we are far superior to l'Cie…we are gods: _Fal'Cie_!"

"You've lost it!" Cloud shouted, getting to back to his feet and charged again.

Sephiroth countered with several quick flurries of attacks, which Cloud was easily able to counter. Swinging his Fusion Blades with superhuman strength and speed, Cloud attacked in a downward smash and the two blades clashed with a resounding clang! The two grappled in that position until Sephiroth, using his own unnatural strength, flung Cloud's sword upward and thrust his blade forward. Cloud twisted quickly to keep the blade from piercing his shoulder but from his peripheral vision he could see Sephiroth twist into a pirouette and fiery pain erupted throughout his leg as the cold steel of the Masamune cut deep into the flesh behind his left knee.

His back collided with the ground with a breath stealing force, his hand instinctively dropping his sword and reaching for the wound, but only found warm, sticky blood and the laceration already healed.

"Your light is the exact opposite of my darkness," said Sephiroth continuing his rant "Once I've killed you, my power will have no rival." Cloud's eyes worked fast and relocated his sword (which had not fallen far, thankfully it was still within his reach), curling his fingers around the handle and leapt back to his feet.

Raising his sword in a battle ready stance, Cloud shouted bravely "How many times do you have to be told Sephiroth?!" His swordplay slow but still blade shatteringly powerful (making Sephiroth actually work to block them), "If history has taught us anything…it's that guys like you don't ever succeed…because they've got someone or something strongly opposing them…and they are destined to fail because of this!" Cloud shouted between strikes. "So if my light is the opposite to your darkness…than it's my destiny to do as history dictates…" he attacked in a powerful uppercut, that threw Sephiroth into an unbalanced stagger, and then thrust half of the length of his massive blade into the Super-SOLDIER'S torso, pinning him against the wall of rock.

"…And I'll be there to stop you every time!" Cloud panted and with ebbing strength he ripped the blade from Sephiroth's gut, spewing blood in all directions and dropping him to the ground. As Cloud stood on rubbery legs, panting heavily, he was helpless to watch in horror as Sephiroth stood back up as though nothing had happened.

"Is that so?" he asked in his usual condescending voice "Well let's put that to the test…shall we!"

He charged. This time, it was Sephiroth's strikes that made an exhausted Cloud work to block them. Swinging with another wide attack, the Masamune stole the Fusion Sword with unnatural ease, and quickly disarming Cloud. Fluidly following through with the next attack, Sephiroth lifted the blade high above his head before swinging it down like a guillotine; Cloud screamed in agony as a good foot of the blade cut through his collar-bone, nearly severing his left arm, before it was cleanly pulled from his body and a mist of crimson rained from the wound. However, he had no respite as the sword was then thrust, up to the hilt, into the center of his chest; a thick glob of blood erupted from his mouth. Lost in a never ending hell of pain, Cloud never noticed when the blade was stripped from his body however he was brought back to the world by the back of Sephiroth's fist. Off balance and spinning out of control, Cloud crashed back to the ground with his face in the dirt and blood pouring from his body.

Desperately fighting off his exhaustion, Cloud found that his body was no longer a ball of raging pain, it ached as the Lifestream healed him and barely keeping him conscious. How was he supposed to fight back? Sephiroth was continuously massacring him and he had no idea where his sword was. As he made to push himself up, something roughly pushed him back down and a facetious Sephiroth asked him:

"Cloud, how many times must we dance to this tune?" A sharp pain burst into this neck as the tip of the blade pierced his trachea, his mouth dripping with blood.

He could feel Sephiroth twist the blade and then violently rip it from him. "You should know better by now, that you cannot defeat me!" As much a surprise to him as it was to Sephiroth, Cloud found himself to be laughing.

"I knew something was different about you! You could have easily destroyed me long before now…but you're not at full power," then the realization dawned on him "and getting rid of me will restore your strength, won't it?" He was suddenly winded by a violent kick to his ribs, making him airborne but was masterfully (albeit torturously) stopped as Sephiroth's Masamune pierced his Adam 's apple. Cloud gripped helplessly at the long blade in his throat, as Sephiroth looked on with hatred burning in his Mako green eyes.

"I will enjoy killing you-slowly" his voice like an angry snake and then swung his blade down and brutally slamming Cloud back onto the ground.

Sliding across the ground and gaining a mouthful of dirt, Cloud lay there in his hell and wanting to laugh at the irony of his situation: he came to Cocoon wanting to die, only to end up being killed by his long-dead archenemy. Breathing heavily and lifting his eyes, the irony continued, as he found his sword at last.

A sudden, violent '_Clang_' echoed throughout the area; weak, tired yet extremely curious, Cloud flipped himself over lamely to a terrifying sight. Sephiroth had been flung backwards, a look of annoyance painting across his face, but someone was there, his vision too fuzzy to make out who it was.

"Foolish l'Cie" he hissed with his usual charisma and contempt "Go now, while you still have the chance, this is a duel among gods!"

Cloud's eyes widened in shock: they, at least one of them, had come back! Whoever stood over him ignored Sephiroth but turned their back to him, shining rings of brightest green; a warm, tickling sensation hit Cloud full in the face and almost immediately his exhaustion faded and clarity returned to his sight. Standing before him, with a battle ready look on her face stood Lightning!

"Light!" Cloud breathed, genuinely surprised.

She opened her mouth to speak but whatever she was going to say never left her; Sephiroth's _Masamune_ blade tore across her midriff. A muscle spasm twitched the edge of her sword in front of the long katana to take the brunt of the attack, however, the damage had been done. There was a flash of scarlet and a sickening '_Crack_' and Lightning collided with the side of the mountain, hard, her sword flying off and bloodstaining her middle. She wasn't moving.

"No…oh God NO!" Cloud bellowed; Sephiroth turned from Lightning and stared curiously at Cloud. His gaze returned to Lightning and then back to him, grinning maliciously.

"Oh, you care for this woman?" chided the silver-haired SOLDIER twirling his sword "Then perhaps my attention would be better focused on her?"

Cloud felt his eyebrows stiffen in a furrowed position, a furious hate that he'd only known a few times before bubbled up inside him. He wanted nothing more than to hurt Sephiroth, whatever it took to keep Lightning safe… "_God damn its hot_!"

He suddenly realized that he was on fire! However, the (bright blue) flames did not hurt, instead they seemed to reflect the anger within, the desire to protect! Cloud let out a roaring battle cry and the azure flare burst forward like back on Cocoon only this time it was different: instead of a phantasmal, shapeless mass the fire dissipated like mist and something corporeal charged Sephiroth. Cloud squinted and found a familiar brownish wolf, with a strange contraption of blades attached to its back and its fangs bared, barreling towards the single winged man.

His enemy was only half turned when the attack struck; the first of the wolf's swords sprang forward like an axe and pierced Sephiroth through the torso. Flipping its neck upwardly, the wolf flung the silver-haired ex-SOLDIER into the air and charged after him. Twisting around, its second blade snapping outward and flipping to the side, the wolf smoothly cleaved the man in half. Cloud watched at the creature and the two halves of his enemy return to the ground with the same dull '_thud_'.

The wolf turned around to face him; Cloud stared disbelievingly: it was, without a doubt, the wolf that haunted his steps, _his wolf_. There was a stomach turning squelch and Cloud snapped his attention back: with what looked like liquid Lifestream oozing out of his body, connecting the two halves, and pulling them back together.

"An interesting play" said Sephiroth, pushing himself back to his feet "I've never known you to call for help on anything Cloud."

Cloud's attention switched from Sephiroth to the wolf; the intensity at which it stared at him erased all doubts from his mind. This bastard had hurt Lightning and he wanted to do what he'd set out to do when he killed Aerith: he was going to make Sephiroth pay! Grabbing his sword and pushing to his feet, he and the summoned beast charged.

Throwing every ounce of power into the uppercut, Cloud and the Wolf Eidolon launched Sephiroth into the air, five of the six fusion blades plus the wolf's two encircling him and the _Ascalon_ spun into the black heavens and out of sight. With abrupt pressure on his back, the Wolf had jumped on and leapt off of Cloud's back and launched after the One-Winged Angel; quickly snapping the Buster Sword off of his harness, Cloud drove the blade into the ground vaulted onto the pommel and hurled himself up into the void.

The duo surrounded Sephiroth, the Wolf's thrusting blade reattached on its harness and Cloud snatched up both the _Vigilante_ and the _Vendetta_, both engulfed in a flaming blue aura. They charged, but even though the blades did most of the work, Cloud could almost feel each slash rip through Sephiroth's immortal flesh. They lunged once, twice, four times (Cloud alternating swords) until at last, Cloud let the blades slip from his hands and they fell back to the earth. Reacting on his warriors' instinct, Cloud reached out and his hands gripped the handles of the dagger-like twins of the _Merciless_ and the _Sidewinder_. As he rocketed forward, Cloud's Mako blue orbs connected with Sephiroth's Mako green slits and he saw anger rage through them as the wolf charged dragging its slashing blade through his torso.

Cloud put it out of his mind, Sephiroth wasn't human enough to feel pain anymore; he and the Eidolon struck his old nemesis four more times, letting out the full fury of the short swords sharp edges before the two dropped to the Earth with their brothers. Reaching up, and as if appearing out of nowhere, Cloud seized the leathery handle of the hollowed _Avenger_ and charged forth a third time. Twisting into a spin, Cloud struck Sephiroth's torso almost simultaneously as the Wolf (who, with the edges of both blades upright, rolled into a dual slash). Two more, three…four final slashes from their combined forces; until at last, Cloud and the Wolf dropped back down (the _Avenger_ slipping from Cloud's grasp).

Cloud's eyes met the Wolf's, who was engulfed in a familiar azure fire and clasped within its jowls was the Buster Sword. It returned Cloud's gaze with a fierce determination, to which Cloud replied "Let's finish this!" He threw out his hand and seizing the _Ascalon_ who had finally returned from its long descent from the stars and his body erupted into an equally blue flame. Mako blue eyes rose to the sky, following Sephiroth as he dropped, uncharacteristically, clumsily from the heavens he craved; pushing off the ground with the remainder of his strength Cloud struck Sephiroth, crossing paths with the Wolf, their streak of fire forming a large X and they landed back on the ground as Sephiroth was engulfed in a deafening burst of blue aura.

Cloud never returned to his feet, his energy was spent and he came crashing back to the ground, the Ascalon slipping from his grasp. He had nothing left, if Sephiroth could retaliate then the fight was his! Pushing himself up onto his exhausted legs, his knees on the brink of betrayal, Cloud turned to his enemy; Sephiroth was standing within a burning cloud of bright green flames, scowling hatefully at him.

"Your efforts are meaningless" he spat "You may have defeated me but do not think for a moment that I won't win in the end! When you die from Mako Withdrawal, I will be there to welcome you to hell!" With that, the flames burst in a bright flare (Cloud shielded his eyes) and when he looked again, the One-Winged Angel had vanished.

Cloud collapsed besides Lightning, his chest heaving up and down; it was finally over! Then a warm, comforting sensation coursed across his skin, the pain in his muscles alleviating. He averted his gaze forward, to find the wolf sitting placidly in front of him, casting its healing magic on the wounded warriors.

"Thank you" said Cloud; the wolf made no answer and continued to glow with white magic.

"Why are you helping me?" the question tumbled from Cloud's mouth faster than his tired lips could stop them; the wolf turned its eyes on Cloud and stared him down. He was fascinated by the wolf's stare: there was an intelligence and a ferocity that chastised him for the question, however, there was also a gentleness and watchfulness that made Cloud feel something that he hadn't felt in a very long time: safe.

"You were never here to make me feel guilty, were you?"

The wolf fell back onto its haunches, staring meditatively at him, its silent answer becoming quite apparent. Cloud looked deep into its dark brown eyes when, right then and there, the two became one: each thought's becoming the others; and he saw what the wolf had envisioned. A world of peace, laughter, a massive tower of blue crystal and…Lightning; she stood there, a broad smile on her face and holding out a hand to him. He blinked and the vision had dissipated leaving nothing but the sounds of Light's gentle breathing and the wolf sitting silent and placidly.

Cloud sighed but actually grinned, "In the past I thought that you were nothing more than just my guilt, for Zack and Aerith…I thought that you would haunt me for the rest of my life because I failed to protect them. But now I know: you're here to show me that there's more to my life than just guilt and there's something worth fighting for, am I wrong?"

The wolf nodded intelligently; Cloud's hand moved absentmindedly, his fingers curling themselves around the handle of the Buster Sword and then brought it up so that the blade lay reverently in his hands.

"When I got this sword, it was a symbol that I was a living legacy" he held out the handle towards the wolf "Would you mind holding onto it for me?"

The wolf sniffed the handle before taking hold of it in its jowls and gave Cloud a look of confidence. A wind jostled through the battlefield and the wolf and Buster Sword disappeared with the breeze. A groan sounded from Cloud's left; his eyes widened with relief as Lightning started to come around.

"Light are you okay?" he asked gently; she cradled her head gingerly with her hand and nodded. "Good…" Cloud sighed a breath of relief before his frustration bubbled to the breaking point and broke like a dam "…YOU IDIOT!

"Lightning what you did was incredibly stupid! It was irresponsible, brainless and did I mention stupid?!" Cloud snarled.

"Well that's one way to go," said Lightning coldly, reeling from his sudden shouting "Most people would be grateful they have someone who'd be willing to come back and save them."

"I told you to leave! I told you not to come back! Why couldn't you just let me solve my own problems?"

"Because you were getting slaughtered!" Lightning shot back, "He was killing you and I couldn't bear to watch you die!"

"AND YOU THOUGHT THE BEST WAY TO HELP ME WAS BY GETTING YOURSELF KILLED?!" Cloud raged.

"I'VE LOST MATSUKI, AMODAR AND SERAH, I DIDN'T WANT TO LOSE YOU TOO!" Lightning slapped a hand over her mouth; Cloud made to respond but quickly fell silent, dumbfounded, and shifted his gaze downward, muttering

"Well…maybe I was being a tad ungrateful."

"Yeah" said Lightning coolly, beginning to get to her feet.

"Thank you!" Cloud said as Light began to reach to her full height but she instantly fell back to the ground and stared at him.

"_What did you say_?" she asked incredibly.

"I didn't mean to yell, but my frustration got the better of me and for that, I apologize," Lightning smiled appreciatively

"Accepted and You're Welcome."

"It's not just about what you did against Sephiroth, it goes back to the very beginning" said Cloud soberly; Lightning stared, confused. "From the time that we met, you kept pushing me not to give up…you just wouldn't let this coward run away;" he turned his eyes back to her; Lightning fidgeted with her hair but blushed a bright scarlet. And then, in an act that surprised her (probably as much as it did himself) Cloud leaned in close and kissed her.

It was bliss beyond anything imaginable; for once in his life, nothing mattered the guilt ridden soldier. There was no painful past, no reason to be guilty; it was just the two of them and the taste of the Lightning's lips. Finally, they broke apart; Cloud grinned before allowing a chuckle to escape him.

"What?" asked Lightning gently.

"Our conversation is no longer private," he whispered, his grin turning into a broad smile.

"Don't worry," she said, reciprocating his smile "We'll kill them later."

**~o Special POV o~**

"You're right," whispered a wide eyed Sazh, "I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself!"

The five of them stood, hidden away behind the mountainous rock wall, spying on their comrades.

"Oh!" squealed Vanille excitedly "Good for them!"

"I'm not too sure about Cloud," said Hope unsure "But if Light finds out about this, more than likely, she'll kill us!"

"Relax buddy" said Snow with a grin "She's not going to find out!"

**Well there it is: the kiss. The kiss that I've had planned since the inception of this story…Okay, I've got to give credit where credit is due: the Fenrir (Wolf's) battle mode isn't original. It was inspired by the Sword Wolf from Zoids Genesis; I just thought it would be a cool addition to Cloud's "Eidolon". Anyway, Hope you guys enjoyed this and please don't forget those reviews! BTW, I hope you all enjoyed that Omnislash I incorporated: THAT one is totally mine: I call it Omnislash version 13.**


	13. Chapter 10 part 2

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

The sun had risen and Lightning's eyes opened very slowly; after the previous night's activity, the only part of her that ached was her stomach, which grumbled obnoxiously loud. It was then, however, that she became aware of her surroundings: she was startlingly close to one of her traveling companions, her face planted comfortably in the warmth of his back, and one of her arms wrapped around his ribcage. She stared at the back of his head, listening to the softness of his breathing and smiled to herself; she'd never once thought that she would ever fall in love, she never once believed all of Serah's cock-and-bull of 'there's someone out there for everyone' but here she was with emotions whirling in her heart that she never believed that she would feel.

Her stomach growled again and Cloud twitched in his sleep; pulling her arm from around him, Lightning retreated before her body's moaning awoke him. Lightning moved to her feet and expelled the sore, aching tiredness from her muscles with a cat-like stretch. The air was cool in early morning though it was, admittedly, very pleasant considering the heat of a Pulsian sun. A natural sun; something she'd, in retrospect, never experienced before.

A rough grunt roared from behind; Light wheeled around, reaching for her weapon. It turned out to only be Sazh, sitting against a boulder mouth wide open and drooling, fast asleep and harshly snoring. Hope, Fang and Vanille lay only feet away, all three deeply asleep but wearing expressions of utmost discomfort at the volume emanating from the pilot.

Lightning shifted her gaze from each of them and rolled her eyes; Snow, Fang, Sazh and, even, Hope had done fairly good jobs at hiding their reactions from last night, Vanille on the other hand looked ready to burst with excitement and had only fallen asleep, presumably, after Lightning had. She made a quick mental note to give her a kick the next time she became annoying.

Just then, something occurred to Lightning: Cloud, Fang, Hope, Sazh and Vanille were all sleeping soundly before her but Snow was nowhere to be found! Lightning rolled her eyes again, and quickly set off to look for him. "Why?" she moaned in her head "Why so early and on an empty stomach?!"

Moving down the trail, Lightning quickly found herself standing on a placid cliff that overlooked the light-flooded steppe and standing at the edge, his neck turned skyward. Lightning moved over to him, when she noticed what he was holding: in his hand sat her sister's crystal, pointed towards the sky and staring at Cocoon: which had become frighteningly colossal as they neared their destination.

"How's Serah?" asked Lightning as she moved up to Snow. Snow did not seem to be startled, although he did not turn.

"Same as we left her" he replied gently letting the crystal fall to his side; Lightning nodded, her hand cupping around a large dandelion bloom that landed in her hand as gently as a snowflake. She watched with naïve awe as it dispersed in the breeze, smiling as the seeds danced as they flew into the sky.

"It feels so far away now" Snow said meditatively, he walked over to Lightning and placed the crystal gently into her hand, "Serah says she wants to talk" he muttered. Lightning held the tear-shaped jewel up to the floating continent, observing the light refracting from with the azure stone and how it miniaturized and multiplied Cocoon.

"She'd probably prefer it if you skipped the lectures" said Snow jokingly snatching a dandelion bloom from the air. Pulling from her daze, Lightning whipped out _Blazefire_, her steel cutting through the plant, causing it to erupt into seeds and Snow to fall back on his rump.

"Hey!" he called angrily

"Once we're home, what's your plan? You're getting married, _right_?" Lightning inquired sharply.

"What's that?" asked Snow, his anger melting into confusion and disbelief.

"Serah wants to know" said Lightning, holstering her weapon;

"Don't scare me like that" Snow laughed nervously.

"You _are_ getting married, _aren't you_?" asked Lightning a little more gently staring at her sisters tear "Don't you let her down, you hear me?" she called tossing him the crystal.

"Don't worry," replied Snow catching the stone with ease "This tear will be her last, I'll make sure of that;"

"That's all I need to know" Lightning smiled glad to hear that his resolve hadn't changed. As she moved past him, Snow asked disconcertingly despondent:

"We will see her, right?" Lightning's eyes widened in shock; turning on her heel, she firmly drove her fist into his back, more as a push than an actual hit.

"Don't go there" she barked "No room for doubt" she'd be damned if she let one of the people who gave her hope would lose his own. "We'll see her again and soon, you convinced me of that, so stay strong!" Lightning could feel the hot tear drip over her eyelid and down her cheek.

"You're right" he breathed in his usual reassuring voice "Don't worry…We'll finish this and go see her together." Lightning nodded as she patted Snow on the shoulder.

"Oh and Snow?" she asked gently causing him to turn to her. Balling up her fist, Lightning felt the dull intensity surge up to her elbow as she plowed it into his gut; Snow collapsed to his knees, winded.

"O-okay" he wheezed "That totally ruined the moment;"

"That was for spying on me and Cloud!" Lightning shot heatedly.

Snow turned his focus back to her, wearing a look of both surprise and fear "_You knew_?"

However, Lightning felt her angry and annoyance melt like ice and found herself chuckling lightly "Of course I knew…_idiot_!" That last part she'd thrown in not in its usual insulting tone but rather playfully, sisterly. As she turned to leave, Snow called:

"Hey Lightning" She turned to him and he said sincerely "I'm happy for you, Cloud's a good guy." Lightning smiled appreciatively.

The two of them walked in silence and re-entered the campsite where the entire group sat, completely awake but totally ignoring each other. A low rumble explained everything. The seven of them were all grouped together; the tension of empty stomachs gripped them tightly. Just then, a monstrous, snake-like creature flew so low overhead that Hope and Vanille gasped in surprise.

"What was that?" barked Snow as it disappeared over the mountainside; Fang brushed the dust off of her front and replied simply:

"That was Dahaka; used to see it flying around all the time. They say it had a home somewhere near Oerba."

"That's good news" said Lightning mounting her hands to her hips "If we stay on its tail we should end up in your village." Vanille nodded rigorously.

"Follow that Fal'Cie!" someone shouted; soon enough, all became lost in the thunderous stampede of running feet. Turning down a long path in the side of the mountain, Lightning coughed as the grassy earth receded into a dusty trail. The mouth of pathway soon opened into another dusty, cliff-side road; Lightning scanned the skies but the Fal'Cie had disappeared. What she discovered however was undoubtedly a magnificent equal: overlooking the cliff stood a formidable black tower that looked like, at one time, it could have bridged Cocoon with Gran Pulse. Now it stood in shatters, the vast majority of it lying cracked and broken upon the ground with only several surviving stories left standing. Vanille squealed excited:

"We get through there and we'll be in Oerba!"

"Oh yeah, you're almost home" said Snow with his usual goofy laugh.

"Doesn't look like it'll be a very leisurely stroll" Sazh chimed sarcastically. Lightning stared at the tower, normally she would have agreed but she felt differently: like she could take on the world (despite the exhaustion and emptiness that rumbled in her gut). She suddenly became very aware of how closely Cloud stood. Suddenly, Dahaka flew past so close to the cliff that Lightning could make out every intricate detail on its snaky body.

"Oh," groaned Hope sarcastically "So we just head through this Fal'Cie's lair to get to Oerba, right?"

"Well what's another Fal'Cie at this point?" quipped Lightning good naturedly; why not? So far they'd claimed victory over two already, it only made her feel that much more confident. However, the feeling quickly diminished as the Fal'Cie mercilessly knocked several winged beasts out of the air; a sudden tightness gripped her shoulder. Lightning returned the grip with a squeeze of Cloud's knuckles and then led the way towards the tower.

She took in a deep, calming breath but instead inhaled a lungful of some foul odor that sullied the, otherwise, clean mountainous air. The group (minus Fang, Cloud and herself) let out a conjoined moan of nauseated discomfort as they came upon the source; Lightning, ignored the stench and replaced it with sheer disbelief. Situated within the dirt lay the dilapidated and mutilated corpse of a wolf-like monster, deep gashes crisscrossed the body and dried blood painted a demented mural across bright silver fur. Hope approached cautiously, his nose buried deeply within the bend of his arm, swatting away the army of flies that swarmed the body, and turned back to them, staring at Cloud with a look of utmost awe and impression.

"Hey, guys?" He called to the group "I think this is that monster, Cloud killed the night he came back!"

Lightning stared at the creature, shocked. She did remember Cloud finishing his killing attack with a home-run hitting strike that batted the monster away like it was little more than a toy. As much as she would have like to join Snow in his marveling, reality swiftly regained its firm grip on her senses. Rotting meat would always attract scavengers and, judging from the vicious wildlife they'd seen on the ground, she didn't want to find out what kind of scavengers awaited in the air. She became very aware of the circling winged beasts.

"We need to go," She said urgently moving past the group "NOW!" she barked when none of them moved. Lightning led the charge down the hill towards the entrance of the black tower.

"OH NO!" shrieked Vanille; Light twisted her neck to find the carcass already becoming a war zone between the winged creatures and a pack of Hyena-like monsters. One of them had glanced over towards the group and snarled, baring sharp, pointed fangs, ready to forgo rotten meat for a warm, fresh meal. The beast charged.

Sazh ran in front of her, waving his arms and screaming in terror; fear, Lightning reasoned, the obvious fuel for the hungry and scared. The collection of fourteen pairs of footwear clomped heavily onto stone floors, cool air hugged Lightning's skin.

"Sazh, Snow, Hope give me a hand!" shouted Cloud moving over to the large sliding doors and began to heave, pushing with all of their combined might to combine the steel barriers. Lightning turned her attention back to the outside: the hyena was closing in! It leapt into the air; the door was still open wide enough for it to enter. Pulling _Blazefire_ from his holster, Lightning held up the business end of her trusty gunblade and squeezed the trigger. There was a loud burp of thunder and a burst of flame and the hyena hit the ground hard, skidding to a halt, stone dead. The doors joined together with a dull 'SLAM'; as the men doubled over huffing, Cloud turned towards Lightning and nodded, a small grin lighting up his face. Lightning returned the sentiment with a nod of her own before blowing the smoke from the barrel of her hot weapon and returning him to his leather home.

Lightning's adventurous curiosity retook her senses and she averted her eyes to her new surroundings. It was considerably darker inside the tower, the only light radiating from eerie green lights; standing in the center room were four statues, men clad in armor but with the heads of lions instead of helmets, three hands on the pommels of swords that were driven deep into the ground but the fourth had his blade raised high above his head. She stared around, footsteps echoing around inside the barren, circular entrance hall; Lightning hissed in annoyance and shock. The room was a perfect circle, not to be bothered by the flaw of a door or staircase.

_Why are you here_? A low voice rumbled throughout her ears but vanished as quickly as it had come; the familiar but unwelcome feeling of creepiness ran down Lightning's back and Vanille jumped violently.

"I'm not the only one hearing that am I?"

"No…" replied Sazh turning, in awe, towards the center of the room; Lightning's eyes widened in shock and surprise as she turned as another low growl emanated from the direction of the statues.

"…It couldn't be _them_…_could it_?"

_Why are you here_? Lightning rubbed her ears as the ephemeral voice plagued her ears like they were obnoxious gnats agitating them.

_Your presence draws the Tyrants gaze_, said the low voice of the statue _Leave this place at once_.

"We can't leave, this is the only way for us to get through!" said Vanille pleadingly to the statues. "Please help us."

The room was enveloped in silence for several moments; suddenly the statue moved! It drove its sword into the ground and joined its brothers stance. There were several distant clicks and then came a loud 'whir.' The sections of the walls began to twist, writhing around each other in an unnatural circle, the green lights meshing together into a strange green ring.

_As you wish_ said the voice _Look for us and the way will open_.

The walls began to slow, the 'whirring' dying to a sluggish whine; they were realigning, joining together to form some kind of pulley system. The movement finally came to a halt with a loud crash! Lightning stared around, impressed by the mechanics of such an ancient tower, but the most poignant changes remained with the two new pathways and sphere that descended from the upper levels.

"That was easy enough" Snow grunted happily, placing his fists on his hips.

"You never know" replied Hope cautiously "It could be a trap."

"Maybe" concurred Sazh "But it's not like we got a whole lot of options here."

Lightning folded her arms. Every one of her soldiers instincts agreed with Hope: there was a very distinct possibility that this was a trap. Then again, her common sense agreed with Sazh: the likelihood of this actually being a trap was pretty slim and presently they didn't have much choice.

"So which way do we go?" Lightning's question silenced the whole group and they stared around awkwardly with indecision.

"Well whatever we do: we should stay together-"

"-I disagree" said Fang diplomatically "What would we accomplish by sticking together? There are three paths giving us a one-in-three shot of getting this right."

"I agree with Fang" said Cloud firmly, shocking everyone with his sudden response (even Fang looked mildly surprised). "Three paths, three groups. Fang, Sazh and Vanille, you guys see where that will take you" he pointed towards the corridor on the left. "Light, (Vanille gasped in anticipation) you take Snow and Hope and take that elevator as far as it will go."

"What will you do?" inquired Vanille curiously, a slight disappointment in her voice.

"I'll check _that_ out on my own" said Cloud gesturing towards the right-hand corridor. Lightning shifted uneasily; it wasn't that she didn't trust Cloud, quite the opposite really (whether or not he felt the same was still to be seen), but the fact that he was going off on his own was startling. She wanted him to stay with her, she wanted to protect him like he'd done for her for so long; Lightning quickly realized that her thoughts had bled through her defenses, making her face into a fascinating painting. Vanille had seen this and grinned toothily (her thoughts perverted no doubt); however, Cloud had seen this as well and he smiled gently.

"I'll be okay Light" he said earnestly; Cloud nodded towards the group and set off towards the right. Lightning watched him leave, vaguely aware that the others were leaving her behind, not convinced by his words. She simply couldn't believe it: he carried that burden around all by himself, not letting anyone in…and she felt guilty for not seeing it sooner.

"Light?" a voice called, snapping her out of her thoughts, "You coming?" asked Snow.

Lightning nodded, training her mind back onto the task at hand, and made towards the ancient elevator. Hope stared around, examining the machine; it was a perfect ball on the outside, but inside it was ovular, gears and belts lacing the walls and in the center sat a single lever.

"Do you reckon we ought to try it?" asked the silver-haired boy; Lightning moved passed him, curling her fingers firmly around the lever and thrust her shoulder forward. What happened next happened very fast. The door to the elevator slammed shut with a mechanical '_whir_', encasing the trio of l'Cie in pitch black; the lift then lurched heavily and shot upward, knocking the trio to the floor and a muffled light flashed through the steel doors. They passed another light, then a third and a fourth, but they never saw a fifth as they jerked to an abrupt and, almost, painful halt; the doors opened with the same placid '_whir_' that they always had.

The three of them clambered out, Lightning gripping her newly sore head; she made a quick, silent pact with herself: if she could avoid it, she would not be getting back into that elevator! There was a sudden and undeniable click; "What's that?" said Lightning cautiously.

Just then, Dahaka jutted up from the ground and stared down the three of them. Lightning hadn't seen this Fal'Cie's face before: it was pale white and mask-like, unnatural; however, the heat of the moment flared up Lightning's warrior spirit.

"Waiting for us, huh?" she called challengingly; Dahaka's back curved and the demented mask fell backward, its tail gaining speed and momentum as it shot towards them. There was a brilliant flash of light and a gigantic shadow burst forth, swinging a sword whose size could have rivaled Cloud's. The shadowy figure's blade slashed the Fal'Cie's lower body before vanishing as quickly as it had come; the bisected fraction of body careened towards them and Lightning's instincts took over. Taking hold of Snow and Hope and dragging them to the ground an earsplitting 'BOOM' rocked the tower. After a moment to allow the shaking to subside, Lightning pushed herself upward and found the path before them in a ruinous gap, a gaping hole in the wall and the Fal'Cie gone.

"_What was that_?" breathed Snow wearing a 'tickle-me-impressed' look; Lightning, however, was not so amused. Their path was gone and she didn't know what to do next. Moving to turn back towards the elevator, the hole-in-the-wall caught her eye. Inside was a gargantuan room whose only inhabitant was one of the lion-headed warriors from the ground floor. Looking all around for Dahaka, Lightning entered into the room.

_Well done_ said the low voice; _I find myself impressed_: _you and your companions are proceeding through the tower with ease_.

Lightning folded her arms, "Don't give me that!" she spat heatedly "What the hell is going on here? What was that back there?"

The Lion-headed statue appeared to ignore her questions, mumbling gleefully _Lord Dahaka has some very interesting guests_.

_Go forth now_, he said one more addressing the trio _take this with our good graces_. With another flourish, the statue jabbed his sword into the ground and the floor above them rotated and a staircase descended from above.

Lightning watched the mechanical action with an annoyed expression but could stop herself from marveling at the sight. This was common technology back on Cocoon but this tower was centuries old, for it to exist here was very impressive. Focusing her attention back to the, now silent, statue Lightning inquired sharply: "Who are you?" she received no answer. With a huff, Lightning led the way up the stairs; what the hell was going on? The statue-creatures _were_ being an enormous help but, then again, they obviously knew more than they were letting on.

The ascent into the higher levels of the tower achieved nothing but darkness and a spine-tingling cold. Lightning gripped _Blazefire_ tightly as she entered into the perpetual black and whipping her mini-flashlight out of her med-pack; however, the room she'd entered into, was one that she would never have anticipated to find; Hope felt the same and uttered a soft "Whoa."

It was a library; an enormous library whose bookcases connected ceiling to floor and contents shrouded in eternal darkness, perhaps seeing light for the first time in a very long time. Hope gasped loudly and then charged into the void.

"Hope!" Lightning called; the boy did not respond for several moments but there was the incessant sound of books being opened, rifled through and then replaced.

"There might be something useful in these books" came the silver-haired young man's voice from, seemingly, nowhere "Maybe a strategy or an idea of how to beat Barthandelus!"

For a moment, the idea struck Lightning as odd (that they'd find a way to beat a Cocoon fal'Cie in an ancient Pulse library. However it was, admittedly, a very brilliant idea; moving over to the nearest bookcase, putting the flashlight in her teeth, and pulling the first, crusty book from off the shelf, Lightning pried it open. Flipping through the extremely dusty and brittle pages, taking care to turn each slowly for fear of breaking them, Lightning's heart sank like a stone as she found the flaw in Hope's otherwise brilliant idea. Whatever was left was either too faded to be legible or written in a long forgotten, alien language that none understood; gingerly closing the book, Lightning replaced it on the shelf and turned back to Snow and Hope.

Hope had ceased his fervent searching and was buried, nose-first, in one, though broke out into a coughing fit after blowing the dust from a newly turned page only to unleash a haze much greater than he'd anticipated. Snow, however, had roughly pulled a book from its place and opened it with equal tenderness. He cried out in surprise as several pages immediately fell out of their bindings and fell to the floor; Lightning glared at him maliciously.

"No worries Light" said Snow, grinning, scooping up the pages and stuffing them haphazardly back in-between other pages. "No harm, no foul," he dramatically slammed the book shut, which then exploded into angry clouds of yellowish dust; the book, or what was left of it, leaked torrents of dusty sand to the floor leaving behind only an empty leather binding in Snow's hand. Lightning rolled her eyes, exasperated, as Snow laughed sheepishly.

There was a loud, sudden 'SLAM' that caused all three of them to jump, Lightning's shoulders attempting to pound their way out of her skin. Suddenly, the tower began to move; slowly at first until it had reached a breakneck speed, throwing the three people to the ground. Books began falling from shelves, bookcases fell over with thunderous crashes and Hope screamed in terror as he scrambled away from the danger. As quickly as the rotational circle had begun it was over, surviving pages falling to the floor like snow.

"The sooner we get out of this god-forsaken tower the better" muttered Lightning irritably, taking the light from her teeth and pushing herself up onto her feet. However, at the far end of the library an opening had relented and a doorway appeared, lit by a pair of the same eerie green lights.

"Alright!" cheered Snow and he moved over to the door with vigor.

"Wait a second-" shouted Lightning but was fractionally too late. Snow had rapped on the door with his knuckles causing the metallic door to slide open revealing an enormous creature that looked as though it were made of pink gelatin. The tall, blond warrior stepped back with a shout of surprise and Lightning stepped protectively in front of Hope; however, the creature did not appear to notice them and stared around stupidly.

"Snow, Hope…" Lightning hissed through her teeth "…_Aggression_." The room flashed brightly with stars of crimson and navy; "NOW!" she roared. Waving her arm, Lightning combined with Snow in barraging the great pink monstrosity with tiny black spheres, coated with an ephemeral white cloak; Hope, on the other hand, flicked his wrists heartily and released two soft-ball sized orbs of flame into its gelatinous flesh. The spells reacted at the same time detonating like a bomb and releasing a devastating '_BOOM_'!

"Yeah, take that; THE POWER OF THE L'CIE!" Snow roared victoriously, pumping his fist in the air. As the dust settled, the tall, blond l'Cie froze in horror and surprise: the explosive magic had done some critical damage, having blown the creature into many small, smoldering, pink blobs. However, the blobs began to wiggle before slowly making their way back together, growing larger and larger at the same spot the monstrous creature had vanished.

"Run!" ordered Lightning although she didn't need to; Snow had bolted for the door the monster was guarding followed closely by Hope. Pumping her legs she followed them into a brightly lit stairwell, which echoed renewed roars of life from a creature that was now completely focused on them. Arriving on the next floor, the trio found, to both testy tempers and panic, three shut doors.

"You've got to be kidding me!" roared Hope moving over to the first of the three; it did not budge an inch. Stepping over to the second the door slid open to reveal a rusty gold colored robot who charged at them. Snow let out a frustrated roar and swung his fist with all of his might and sending the mech flying into the back wall.

Lightning turned around to find the slimy monster slowly ascending the stairs, she transformed her weapon and let fly a hail of hot slugs, which disappeared harmlessly into the endless void of pink. She heard the final door slide open…

"IT'S CLEAR!" cried an immensely relieved Hope; pushing away from the stairs, which had now submerged underneath pinkish ooze and retreated behind Snow. However, she bumped quite unceremoniously into him as their luck became all too clear: the room was clear but was only the size of a broom closet. Wheeling around, the monster was gaining ground, reaching out blobish arms towards the door; an image of Cloud burning across Lightning's eyes. Suddenly, everything became clear, her mind totally focused, three bright blue rings wrapped around her and she thrust a hand into the gelatinous form. Electricity surged down her arm and into the creature; there was a terrible, unnatural shriek and the pink blob retreated from the door and back down the stairs leaving a trail of goo in its wake. Lightning grinned triumphantly but was sneaky enough to not let either of her friends see; however, her grin faded as she stared down at her slime-covered hand and began to shake it rigorously.

The tower shook again and then rotated slowly; however, it did not rotate a full circle and entombed the three in darkness.

"Well that's just perfect" snarled Lightning sarcastically pounding on the walls to find nothing more than stone on all four ends.

Snow grunted uncomfortably; "Don't worry Snow" said Lightning attempting a comforting voice "We'll get out of here."

"It's not that" groaned Snow (Lightning couldn't see her hand inches from her face let alone the other two but she was positive she could sense him grin) "I think I broke my finger punching that Pulse mech."

"You need me to take care of that?" asked Hope, genuinely concerned.

"No I got it little buddy"

There was a nauseating '_crackle_' in the darkness and Snow moaned in pain. Lightning, ignoring every natural urge to retch, turned her attention back to their situation. _What was the next move now_? They were trapped…

The far wall erupted as Cloud Strife made a monumental entrance, bathing the dark room in glorious light. "Hey" he said casually brushing the dust and rubble out of his spikes as he made to his feet, "Excuse me." Cloud picked up his enormous sword and ejected the saw-toothed blade before leaping out with an enormous push; Lightning followed his movement, as he raced into the middle of the air and crashed into a familiar, snaky Fal'Cie before disappearing in a stomach lurching fall. She rushed forward, nearly knocking Hope over as an earsplitting '_CRASH_' reached her ears; looking down she found several unnaturally perfect circles descending down the metal floors of the tower and no trace of either Dahaka or Cloud. Suddenly the tower began to rotate again continuing its previous encirclement until only one of the gaping holes remained

"Come on" she said to the others and leapt down through the hole; the drop was slightly steeper than she had expected and had the disconcerting feeling of leaving behind her stomach and hit the ground like a rock, a dull pain racing up her shins. Lightning gazed down at her hand were the activation module for her Grav-Con Unit remained; she snapped her fingers hopefully, but the little machine sparked hopefully but died once more. Pulling herself out of the moment of nostalgia, Lightning glanced around the empty room (ignoring the ruckus that Snow and Hope were making in their descent), hoping to find another of the statue-creatures, and settled an intense stare at a solitary door at the far end of the room.

She had long since abandoned her booby trap theory but was very suspicious about what lay on the other side. With that in mind, Lightning quickly pressed her ear to the door, wondering what else was hiding in this tower, and what exactly these demonic statues where hiding. However, Lightning heard a rhythmic shuffle that ceased immediately and then became replaced by distinct, though indiscernible, voices; pressing a finger to her lips she turned sharply towards her male companions.

"Shh" she hissed "I think there's someone on the other side of this door."

"W-what do we do?" asked Hope, nervously reaching for his weapon. Snow placed a comforting hand on the boys shoulder and grinned confidently.

"Hey, Heroes never back down; we'll take that thing down like everything else" he balled up his fists and pumped them victoriously.

Lightning reached for her weapon, whatever was about to happen was going to happen very quickly. She turned to her the two men, holding up three fingers; she folded her ring finger first. A millisecond later her middle finger curled beside the other, leaving her index finger standing alone like a sentinel. Drawing in the final finger, Lightning thrust her fist shot towards the door, and her touch causing the door to slide open like it always had. Whipping out _Blazefire_, the pink-haired l'Cie flicked her wrist and the blade shot out; however, Lightning hardly dared to draw breath as a second blade poked her menacingly in the throat. Shifting her gaze from the weapon to its master, Lightning realized that she was holding her own blade to Fang's throat.

"Oh, it's you guys" sighed a relieved Lightning, holstering her weapon.

"What are you talking about?" Fang barked, annoyed "This isn't the way through?"

"Well we just came from there and there isn't anything good down that way" chimed Snow, dragging a sleeve across his sweaty brow. Vanille chuckled sadly,

"Yeah well, _we_ just came from _that_ way and, trust me, what's down there isn't much better!"

"What do you mean?" inquired Hope curiously.

"Cie'th" bellowed Sazh "Nothing but Cie'th down there."

Lightning's throat suddenly became very tight: evidence of Cie'th was not a good sign at all.

"Come on" said Fang, shouldering her spear "There's another door back our way that we can try."

"Hey Fang" asked Lightning, as the group moved onward causing the duo to fall back, "Did you guys happen to see Cloud?"

"No we haven't" replied Fang; Lightning sighed disappointedly. "Hey don't worry about it; in this devil's idea of a wonderland we're bound to bump into him sooner or later. Besides, your boyfriends a big boy, I think he can take care of himself."

Lightning felt her cheeks burn as Fang winked playfully at her and continued on. The pink-haired l'Cie followed quietly as the group moved down the corridor and into the next room, feeling uneasy as their way was devoid of any Cie'th…

What they found: was another statue-creature. Upon sighting it Lightning lost her temper,

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" But as usual, the creature made no response and autonomously waved its blade before driving it into the ground. The tower gave another lurch and began yet another slow revolution and the door they'd entered through disappeared. It was replaced by two more: one that led out into the main atrium where the elevator sat waiting, and one which descended downward; and then a sharp tapping rang across the emptiness of the room and up from the darkness, covered in dust and a large gash across his forehead, emerged Cloud.

"Cloud!" cried Lightning as his mammoth sword hit the ground with a loud 'clatter' and the spikey-haired man collapsed onto his knees. Lightning glowed into a furious cloak of green rings and spewed out the orbs of soft white light from her arm to him, but could sense that she was not the only one to do so.

"Are you okay?" squealed Vanille worriedly as Lightning helped him into a sitting position; Cloud nodded tiredly heaving several deep, heavy breaths. "_What happened_?"

"I met Dahaka on the third floor and we've been battling ever since…it was getting hard, especially with the tower moving around so much" was Cloud's hefty response. Lightning could feel Sazh shift uncomfortably but ignored this, staring at him her eyes brimming with concern: he still hadn't recovered from his fight with Sephiroth: _that Fal'Cie was picking him apart_!

A loud screech echoed throughout the tower causing the whole group to fall silent; curiously, there was also the sound of sword clashes. "What the hell?" whispered Snow curiously, vocalizing the thoughts of the whole group.

"Dahaka's looking for me" wheezed Cloud, gripping his sword and making to his feet "Sounds like the Menhirrim are buying me a little time-_the what_?!" exclaimed Lightning incredibly.

"The statues" explained Cloud "The true masters of this tower. They're not happy because Dahaka took over and they want her out!" Cloud began to move shakily towards the other door.

"What do you think you're doing?" barked Fang, her hands on her hips

"Take the stairs, you'll find the elevator on the lower level, use it to get to ascend the rest of the tower."

"What about you?" asked Lightning, her voice still resonating with worry but her eyebrows furrowing in her usual scowl. Cloud paused, his body shook with exhaustion as he leaned on his sword.

"I've got to finish off Dahaka"

There was a stagnant pause; but it was Sazh that spoke first: "You're insane! Look at you, you can hardly stand up!"

"But if I don't, then you guys can't get through!" Cloud objected; Snow moved over to Cloud and pulled one of his arms over his shoulders

"Haven't you learned that you don't have to do this stuff on your own anymore? No more secrets." Lightning moved over to the two men and placed a hand on Cloud's shoulder giving him a gentle smile.

Cloud stared at them both, looking mildly surprised, but quickly turned it into a weak grin. "Okay" he said "We need a plan…"

Suddenly the wall erupted and the snaky Fal'Cie charged inside the room. Dahaka flew once around the dark chamber before barreling towards them; there was a brilliant flash of green light and one of the statue-men materialized before them and crashed mercilessly into the enraged deity. Dahaka reared back in pain as it smashed through the stony sword.

"MOVE" ordered Cloud leaping into the air; Lightning watched in awe as he used the Menhirrim as a step and then plunged his blade deep into the Fal'Cie's body. Dahaka let out a high, unnatural scream and then, with Cloud in tow, reared back out into the main atrium, thrashing wildly, before disappearing into the darkness of the apex above.

"CLOUD!" Lightning called uselessly as the pitch black above offered no response; without another word, she took off at top speed towards the stair case. Barreling down the stairs like her namesake, the pink-haired l'Cie raced as fast as she could towards the elevator (ignoring the concerned outcries of her friends).

However, only Fang appeared to run faster than her, turning her head and calling over her shoulder "Hurry up you lot! If we don't get up there soon, there's a chance Cloud could come out of this a l'Cie!"

Lightning's legs automatically pushed themselves harder, inevitably stealing the lead away from Fang, her determination overpowering worry. Cloud had already defeated his dance with death she was not, _she refused_, to let any more harm come to him! Jumping off the final few stairs, Lightning tore across the room, down the hall, and into the elevator. Jamming the lever almost into the metal wall, the doors slammed shut just after the remaining l'Cie scrambled inside.

The trip to the apex was done in silence; Lightning's only thoughts were that the elevator moved too damn slow. She did not want to think the worst, he was Cloud after all, he was still the best warrior in the whole group but she couldn't help but worry. The elevator continued its sluggish crawl; after what felt like an eternity, the metal orb came a crashing halt and the doors slid open smoothly. Taking a calming breath and stepping, cautiously, out; the top of the tower was little more than a large, empty metal plate. However, what was on it, was a sight that Lightning would not have believed if she hadn't seen it herself.

Lying, dead, upon the floor was a canine-looking demon emerged from a snake-like body; it lay there beaten, bloody and slashed. Leaning against the body, sweat pouring down his face and breathing heavier still, with the handle of his sword resting against his shoulder but looking highly victorious, was Cloud.

"Hey" he wheezed casually "What took you so long?" Lightning, forgoing all emotional blockades and ignoring the eyes watching her, she charged forward and curled her arms around his neck, and felt the warming sensation at his returning embrace.

Suddenly a low rumble over took the group; from experience, Lightning easily recognized this as the rumble of an empty stomach. Turning, she was slightly surprised to find that it came from Fang, who blushed and swore under her breath.

"Don't worry" said Cloud with a genuine smile "I think I've just procured lunch."

"Really?" inquired Sazh looking around excitedly "Where?" Cloud rapped Dahaka's body with his knuckles causing the pilots face to contort into horrified grotesquery.

"_YOU WANT US TO EAT A FAL'CIE_?!"

"It's better than starving to death" replied Cloud simply "Besides, the way I see it, if I had lost he'd have eaten me without a second thought. It's basic survival of the fittest."

"He makes a point" said Lightning moving over to Dahaka's corpse but quickly discovering the flaw in his plan. The Fal'Cie's body was as solid as a rock and possibly as equally impenetrable; and whatever flesh was exposed looked leathery and unedible

"And how do you propose we go around doing that?" asked Fang having noticed this as well; her hands were on her hips but Fang did look deeply impressed. There was a sickening '_Crack_' as Cloud raised his sword and plunged it into Dahaka's shelling.

"It's-just-like-a crab-" there was a second '_Crack_' as he pried open the armor and plunged his hand inside. "Once you get through, it's all gooey meat" he retracted his hand which was covered in a delicious looking white meat.

Lightning, allowing instinct to overtake her, drove her hand into the crack and into the slimiest substance she'd ever experienced. Pulling a handful of the salty smelling meat out, she followed Cloud's example and bit into it; Lightning could not remember the last time she'd eaten anything so rich in flavor. However, as she took a second, hungry, bite, she found this to be extraordinarily ironic given what she was eating. And then: the whole group was upon the Fal'Cie like flies, becoming silent as they ate. Suddenly a flash blinded them for a moment (Hope cried out in surprise but ended up choking on a mouthful of meat; Sazh pat him on the back rigorously) and one of the Menhirrim, this one older and more battered than any of the others appeared before them.

_Thanks does not begin to measure the extent of our gratitude_ said the Menhirrim leader, _At last we are free_! _We go now to hunt down evil where it hides_, _but before we go_: _we offer this in our appreciation_; he tapped his sword gently on the ground, summoning a low rumble. From behind him arose another spherical elevator but before any of them could so much as think of a response thank you, there was a flash of light and the stone-creature was gone.

"For a big hunk of rock, that thing sure can move" chuckled Sazh taking in another large bite of Dahaka.

"So there are more monsters like _that one_ out there?" asked Hope incredulously kicking the battered corpse they were currently ingesting.

"Yup" replied Fang calmly, emitting a large belch that caused Cloud to wrinkle his nose in disgust. "Guess they're just doing what they can too, trying to 'save the world.'

"Well it's not all on them" replied Lightning, dragging the back of her hand across her mouth "Last time I checked: _we_ are still in this fight."

Hope returned to his feet, brushed himself off, and walked towards the edge of the pillar "Oerba's right down there right?" Vanille nodded, mouth too full of meat to answer properly.

"What's it like?" asked Snow curiously, shaking slime-coated meat from his fingers; Vanille swallowed hard and her eyes twinkled fondly as she brought back the memories.

"Well it is kind of small, but it's green and warm, very naturey; around the Fal'Cie, it was flowers as the eye could see!" Cloud (with the aid of Sazh) stood weakly and moved to stand beside the silver-haired boy.

"View's not so rosy from here, I'm sorry to say" said Sazh sadly, releasing Cloud onto the stone railing. Fang and Vanille ran forward, nearly knocking Lightning over in the process; Lightning moved over beside Cloud and stared down below. What she saw was the farthest thing from warm and naturey, rather it was drowned in thick blankets of snow and endless wastes; Lightning transformed her own unsurprised look into one of pity at seeing the horrified looks of her Pulsian friends. A sudden pressure wrapped itself, comfortingly, around her shoulders and Lightning returned the gesture with a gracious squeezed of Cloud's hand.

"We're chasing shadows!" Fang burst angrily, furious tears in her eyes "This whole idea of losing our brands is hopeless!"

"There's got to be a way" replied Snow pacifyingly but Fang did not appear to be swayed. However, Hope came to his rescue:

"Let's keep going, that's what we came here for. We all agreed and now we're here…there's no going back."

Lightning squeezed the boys shoulder approvingly. "Well said," panted Cloud "Let's go find those answers."

The group moved across the plate towards the elevator, Lightning taking firm hold of Cloud's wrist and belt to help him along, before clambering inside. The contraption swayed like an ocean cruiser as the seven bodies stood breathlessly inside, nervously watching ball swing. Whether it was without thinking or simply autonomous action Lightning would never know what made Sazh push forward on the lever that slammed the door shut. They hung there in the pitch darkness before the awful, stomach plunging feeling sent chills racing across her skin as they dropped; they hit the ground hard and began to roll.

It was not as chaotic as being inside of Atomos, whose contents were tossed about like laundry, rather it was like being on a very fast sled that rocketed down. It also did not stop the small compartment from ringing from the combined screams of Hope, Vanille and Sazh. Suddenly there was a great pause and the nauseating feeling of weightlessness; and then, a loud and violent CRASH hit them from the front, tossing all to the floor and the doors slid open and drenching them in the golden light of sunset. The escape from the elevator was possibly even more chaotic than the exit from Atomos.

There was snow on the ground and a biting chill danced across the evening air and the serene silence of the mountains was only interrupted by the retching emanating from Cloud and Sazh.

"Hoo, t-t-that was fun" said Snow shakily as nerves and senses began to calm; Lightning walked around, both to walk off the shakiness left in her legs and to get a better look at a sight she never once believed she'd see. On the steppe Cocoon looked unbelievably small, as though she could hold it in the palm of her hand, in the mountains of Oerba it was frighteningly larger appearing to be held up by the lonely range of snowy peaks. She turned back to her six friends and cleared her throat loudly.

"Shall we?"

The seven of them walked along the mountain road, Lightning doing her best to ignore the biting cold that gripped at her as she led the charge, feeling immensely confident with Cloud by her side (even if she was half dragging him). Leading them over the hill that would take them to Oerba, Lightning froze, rooted in horror, at the sight that waited below.

**Oh my gosh, another chapter finally done! I think my computer hates me, as cause for the delay. Anyway, hope you liked it, don't forget to review.**


	14. Chapter 11: Oerba, Fighting Fate

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

Oerba. Broken roads, rusted buildings and dead trees were all the things that made the piteous sight of what was once a place of life and beauty. What the red-haired Pulsian had called warm and green had devolved into little more than a ghost town. Cloud had never seen anything more pitiful.

Having regained enough strength to allow usage of his legs, Cloud led the group into the dilapidated village, a sudden wave of nostalgia crashing over him. He led them down the street and into the large, square courtyard where the complete vacancy of life truly knocked the group of seven silent.

"So…er," said Hope awkwardly "Which is your house?"

"What do you mean, which is ours?" asked Fang curiously, as though the question were the most absurd thing she'd ever heard. "All of them: _they're all ours_. Everyone in the village lived together."

"One big, happy family" muttered Snow enviously; Sazh, however, folded his arms looking totally impressed

"One heck of a lot of places to hang your hat."

"Come on" said Lightning moving towards the nearest building "We'll rest here for now."

As the rest of the group moved on, Cloud's leg muscles locked momentarily and his senses turned his gaze around. Vanille stood frozen, staring all around the decrepit town, silent tears coursing down her cheeks.

"Hey," said Cloud softly moving over to her "You okay?" Vanille wiped her eyes, nodding rigorously; her voice, however, wasn't quite ready to work and squeaked the only two words it could manage:

"We're back."

Squeezing her shoulder reaffirmingly, Cloud and Vanille quickly followed after the group. Moving as silently as shadows, the group dodged past any Cie'th and up a case of metal stairs (Cloud, Lightning, Snow and Sazh having to step gingerly due to their heavy soled boots) and into the what looked like an age-worn apartment.

"Charming" said Snow as a chip of the purple wallpaper detached from the whole and drifted to the ground like his namesake.

"So" said Hope "You want to take a look around?"

"We'd better" replied Fang with a stifled yawn "Got to find something to help us lose these brands."

Sazh yawned widely and infectiously causing the stifled tiredness to weigh down on Cloud like a boulder. "Can't we take a break first?" moaned the pilot "We've been going nonstop for a whole day!"

Cloud observed the group through drooping eyelids: Fang and Snow both looked like defiant toddlers trying to fight the urge to sleep; Vanille and Hope, however, had fallen into a comfortable snooze, leaned against each other in an uncomfortable standing position. He exchanged looks with Lightning (whose shoulders sagged with exhaustion and her eyes were red and puffy) and shrugged.

"Sazh has a point" said Lightning "Let's call it a day."

Fang still looked mutinous but Snow, looking immensely relieved, had put on a mock-look of annoyance and began to lead the sleeping teenagers towards the dorm area. Even Cloud had to consider the apartment's bedchambers "barracks" as they were little more than a pair of triple decker bunk beds that connected ceiling to floor.

Cloud looked wearily out of the window, watching as the setting sun cast an orange hue across the village and a clear a sky light violet. And then he saw them: ambling about the square, limping mindlessly across the void of eternity, were Cie'th: the monstrosities that awaited l'Cie who failed their mission.

Cloud stared pitifully; the Sephiroth Clone and, even, Black mage atrocities he'd heard about on Terra at least had souls to which they could be proud of (until they were maliciously abused by their creator). _These creatures_ were soulless, stripped of all dignity, not even shadows of their former selves, but empty shells to roam the wastes of the forgotten until the end of all things.

Apart from them, the growing night was silent and the silence made Cloud uneasy. He turned back to find the six l'Cie in the bunks; however, only Lightning was sitting up watching him with a small, tired smile. She motioned with her chin, calling him, drawing him in with some invisible chain; and Cloud found himself unable to resist. He walked, tiredly but dutifully towards her and collapsed onto the lowest bunk; his arm curled around Lightning's waist, and their body's met, enveloping Cloud in warmth that no blanket could provide. A snort drifted across Cloud's ears, but who the culprit was, he would never know; within the minute, all was gone with Lightning's soft, rhythmic breathing and Sazh heavy snores.

Cloud's eyelids flew open, sweat poured down his body and his muscles tightened to the point of bursting; his insides felt as though they were being scoured by a white hot wire brush. A wave of nausea erupted from the pit of his stomach, flooding his entire body. Fighting past near paralyzing pain, Cloud rolled off of the bunk, took off as fast as his legs found it possible and was out of the apartment. Taking hold of the metal railing, he threw his neck over the side and vomited.

The horrible, burning sensation of expelling acrid bile repeated itself; and again, then again, tearing his throat all to hell and Cloud collapsed to his knees, helpless. Suddenly it stopped; Cloud breathed deeply, clearing his lungs, however, another wave hit him, hard, in the stomach and he keeled over again, retching.

It was then that he saw it: the mess of regurgitation wasn't the normal, disgusting brown; instead it was a bright, poisonous green! However, Cloud did not flinch at the sight "_A symptom of the Withdrawal, no doubt_," he reasoned.

Crippling pain and rigorous vomiting from literally drowning in Mako; nevertheless, though equally disturbing, he'd take spewing bright green rather than red and _anything_ was better than splitting off another Sephiroth!

A hand, with the gentlest of touches, caressed his back, revolving in a slow, therapeutic rub. The effects were instantaneous as the nausea and tightness in his muscles began to alleviate; Cloud took several more deep breaths and (when there was no doubt that all was calm) returned to his feet. He hesitated turning around, he knew the touch and it killed him to face her like this. Pushing his pride and cowardice somewhere into the back of his mind, Cloud turned around to face Lightning (wearing a look of deepest concern) and uttered a soft: "Thanks."

"Are you alright?" she asked, the worry of her eyes reflected in her voice.

Cloud nodded gently, "I'll be alright, it's just the withdrawal…"

"Why is this still happening?" she asked crossly, folding her arms "This isn't fair, I thought defeating Sephiroth made you better!"

"It _did_ make me better Light but was only a temporary solution" Cloud explained gently "I'm not cured, there is no cure for this."

Lightning turned away from him and said stoically "Right…"

Cloud curled an arm around her shoulder and held her tightly. He knew that it was incredibly unfair to her but there wasn't anything he could do about it and it killed him to believe himself a burden on her and the others. Then, Cloud noticed Lightning's transfixed gaze on the sunrise mounting over the snowy crags and it hit him: today was the day that Barthandelus was going to set his master plan into motion! Cloud turned his eyes back to his pink-haired love. She stared distractedly down at her boots, clasping her necklace and the spikey-haired man recognized the face immediately: she often did this when she thought of her sister. Mako blue eyes averted themselves inside the apartment, where Sazh still lay in peaceful slumber; he couldn't imagine what he was going through as a father.

Cloud stared intensely at the Dyson-sphere in the sky; there was still the fact that they were l'Cie. An entire world above would pounce on them like cats on mice and when all was said and done, there was still a choice to either save Cocoon, their loved ones, or themselves. Cloud leaned onto the railing, his gaze burning holes into the floating world; Barthandelus had really worked them into a no win situation. Saving themselves would take a miracle beyond the human capacity and he knew deep in his gut that Lightning, Snow and Sazh would all rather die than abandon those they loved.

Just then, it hit him again! Barthandelus plan factored in only the six l'Cie, but not their seventh comrade. Cloud felt the fires of determination flare up inside of him: his mind was made up.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" said Lightning suddenly, pulling Cloud out of his thoughts. Cloud's gaze fell to the ground, leaving him feeling like a balloon that had been prodded with a needle. He racked his brain as hard as he could but, going for broke, he turned to her and said, quite bluntly:

"I'm thinking about leaving."

"WHAT?!" the words tumbled from her mouth quicker than she appeared to be able to stop them. Her look of bewilderment shifted frighteningly to shock.

"Right now, the only thing I'll do is hold you back" he explained pacifyingly; Lightning stared at him incredibly for several moments before thundering:

"What are you talking about? You're one of our strongest allies; you are in no way holding us back! If anything you're-" Cloud silenced her by holding up a hand.

"What I meant was that as long as I stay with you guys, nothing will get accomplished. But if I go on ahead then I can clear a path for you all."

Lightning stared incredibly at him "Cloud, in case you've forgotten: you've been aiding _Pulse l'Cie_! And after what happened to you in Palumpolum, it would be suicide for you to go to the most heavily militarized city on Cocoon."

"So what?" replied Cloud calmly, stifling the urge to retort the hypocrisy of her statement, "You'd rather me sit this one out and wait?"

Lightning sighed and Cloud could see the annoyance across her face. "At least let me come with you!" she said quickly, as if in attempt to sway him.

The spikey-haired ex-SOLDIER sighed patiently "Lightning you know as well as I do that you can't just abandon them" he said pointing his chin towards the apartment. "I appreciate the offer, but you are ready to lead them to whatever end this thing comes to; you guys don't need me right now."

"That's not true" Lightning shot back, before adding quietly "_I do_."

"No, you don't" said Cloud with a smile "_You_ got them this far without me, and you can take them all the way."

Lightning turned away with the infamous look of sadness that made Cloud's heart want to burst out of his chest and slap him in the face. Just then, his eyebrows furrowed in wonder as Lightning quickly rummaged in her medical pack, pulling out a very familiar bronze knife.

"You gave Snow the _Buster Sword_ as a promise to stay alive, so I'm giving this to you as a promise that I'll see you again."

Cloud stared down at the knife and gripped it tightly; "Light-" he started was quickly interrupted.

"Claire."

Cloud stared at her, confused; "My _real_ name" Lightning clarified "It's Claire."

Cloud's confusion lifted like a veil and was replaced by sheer dumbfoundedness. Cloud had never known Lightning-no, Claire…he'd never known _Claire _to open up like this to anyone. Taming the overwhelming sense of honor and pride, Cloud leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Be careful…" she whispered softly, cradling Cloud's head in her hand. Cloud nuzzled her forehead comfortingly

"I'll see you at the finish." He had not been trying to be coy or stupid but merely to try and reinvigorate the spirit she'd had when they had first met. Then, for the second time in his life, Cloud performed one of the hardest things he'd done since Aerith died: he let her go.

Tearing himself out of her warm embrace, Cloud made his way down the metal, grated staircase and out into the paved courtyard. Cloud wandered the empty village for a few minutes before he came to a halt, staring up at Cocoon and trying his best to ignore the intimidating sensation that crept throughout his body: he had no idea what his next move was. He hadn't the faintest idea where Barthandelus would be keeping Serah or Sazh's son; however, the slightly more pressing question remained: _how the hell was he going to get back to Cocoon_?

Then, an odd yet familiar sound reached Cloud's ears: a low, mournful howl that echoed across the stillness of time like a phantom. Cloud, instinctively, began to scan for the source but his legs worked automatically. Moving silently down the street, Cloud found himself inside a dark warehouse, his boots causing the floor to creak loudly. As he pushed over a rotten door, we walked smack dab into a cluster of three massive, sleeping Cie'th.

Cloud studied them for a moment: the trio of towering creatures did not stir but remained steadfastly clumped together. Would Claire and the others become such creatures? The very thought of it made Cloud both sick to his stomach and extremely mad!

Just then, a fire beyond comprehension attacked him! Cloud collapsed to his knees, desperately fighting the urge to scream, realizing that the pain was did not originate from the usual place of his Mako attacks. _This_ agony, instead, came from the crease of his left arm! He grit his teeth to stifle a scream but his eyes widened as the Cie'th began to stir; the pain reached an intensity that was nearly blinding. Unable to hold back any longer, the dam finally burst and a pained yell escaped him. Suddenly, the pain became corporeal and burst forth in a great rush of greenish fire; it went crashing forward and drowned the room in a roaring crash. However, as quickly as it had come, the ferocity had faded and all had gone totally still.

Cloud suddenly realized that his eyes were closed; opening them again he found something that he did not expect. The Cie'th had vanished and were replaced by the presence of a gaping hole in the side of the wall, the splintered planks steaming with a faint green glow. He stared down at his, still twinging, arm both fearfully and angrily, rolling up his long black sleeve, slowly at first before yanking a handful of the cloth up to his shoulder. There it was; staring up at him like a judgmental arbitrator: an ugly black mark sat on the crook of his elbow, four spikey arrows jutting from either end, and a blood-red, slit-like eye cutting down the middle. The brand of a l'Cie.

He could only stare back into the, seemingly, endless depths of the eye and remember it too well:

**[Flashback]**

_Cloud had leapt with all the power his exhausted legs could offer and swung his Fusion swords mightily, colliding with Dahaka's armored head with a massive CRASH! With a stomach turning twist, the snaky Fal'Cie turned upward and careened into the upper darkness, dragging Cloud with her. Cloud braced himself for the impending impact, faintly hearing Lightning's cry, as the ceiling rushed forward with every second._

_Whether or not they'd hit any obstruction, Cloud never knew. He opened closed eyes but was surprised to find nothing but blackness. Momentarily thinking that he'd gone blind, Cloud debunked this as he looked down at bloodied and bruised arms. Wherever he was, Cloud did not like it. His body felt weightless and immobilized and his throbbing head felt disconcertingly numb. Suddenly, a giant doggish head appeared from the darkness and stared him down, hard. Cloud reached for his sword but his fingers would not move; the phantom head rushed towards him!_

_They collided._

_Pain coursed through his body, his arm felt as though it were on fire and his head ready to explode. Odd visions flashed across his eyes like some demented television program: a three-headed figure, one effeminate, the second masculine and the third a creepy baby's head. This monstrosity faced down two women, one red-head and the other bronze-skinned and were being pummeled to death by four massive Cie'th; and impaled in the ground before the statuesque creature was the Buster Sword. _

_The image shifted: Cocoon was falling, arms of furious fire sprouting from the bottom; a door opened with a sparkle of light and the image of a grey timber wolf flashed before his eyes._

_Just like that it was over. His eyes opened as a harsh, raspy breath snapped him back to his senses. He was standing atop the broken tower (sword in hand), soreness and exhaustion holding him in place like weights, and a battered and bloodied Fal'Cie laying at his feet, unmistakably dead. Cloud stared down at it, confusion washing over him; and then, his arm twinged._

_Instinctively, Cloud gripped it but the action was too sudden for his body and he collapsed. Pulling himself into a sitting position, leaning against the dilapidated corpse, and pulled back his sleeve to inspect the wound. But there was no wound on his arm, only the fresh markings of celestial ink on his arm. A loud whir met his ears and Cloud quickly draped the sleeve over his arm again, just as Lightning came rushing forward._

**[End Flashback]**

Cloud stared at the little black brand, astounded by how much progress it had made in less than twenty-four hours. He finally understood: the pain and the weight of the burden that Claire and the others carried; he'd been branded with the same timer that made them invariable bombs, courtesy of Dahaka.

A pang of guilt coursed across his conscience. There had been a moment the day prior, and a little while ago, when he'd considered telling Claire what had happened, but after a night to sleep on it, he'd decided she already had too much to need to worry about him. He knew deep down that it was wrong not to tell her, especially after the disastrous results of his Mako Withdrawal secret, but she needed to be focused.

Besides, it didn't matter in the slightest: he had no intention of following Dahaka's Focus. He had sworn to find Serah and Dajh and that was exactly what he intended to do! The howl met his ears again; Cloud returned to his feet and continued up the stairs in an almost hypnotic trance. Pushing open the door (which actually fell over from rusty hinges) Cloud stepped into the sunrise but did not find the source of the howling. Instead, he found all six of his swords, fully fused, embedded into the roof; Cloud's hand immediately and reactively flew to his harness and when became startlingly apparent to Cloud that he'd forgotten his weapon!

Pulling the blade out of the rotten planks, Cloud's gaze turned up towards Cocoon. Standing atop this building had given the Dyson-sphere equivocal ominousness to that of Meteor. Cloud's mind returned, once more, to the most pressing question: _what was his next move_?

A random tickle surged across his leg as his pocket began to hum. Cloud dropped his gaze curiously to the odd feeling in the even odder location. Thrusting a hand into his pocket, Cloud curled his fingers around something cold, metallic and spherical; in sheer amazement, the spikey-haired man withdrew his hand to find the old, Silver Materia from Bodhum sitting in his palm. He stared curiously at his reflection, never having held a _metal_ Materia before and, even after all of this time, still hadn't the faintest idea of how to use it.

It pulsed in his hand and a sudden image of his sword flashed into his mind; Cloud gazed at the weapon, then up to Cocoon before returning down to the silver orb. "This is nuts" he muttered and inserted the Materia into the open crevice. He immediately wished he hadn't.

The Materia began to secrete a very odd inky black liquid that ran down the length of his massive blade as though he'd hit it with a hose. Instinctively and reactively, Cloud hastily dragged his hand across the flat of the blade, which accomplished nothing except for drenching his hand in the fluid. It didn't stop there!

The black trickled down his arm like a plague (Cloud flicked his wrist to free himself from it but failed), covering his l'Cie brand, and crawling north towards his neck. The foul liquid pierced through his clothes and contaminating his skin with ice! The air in his lungs froze; he couldn't breathe! It was coursing up his jaw when the distinct smell of rotten cabbage rose to Cloud's nostrils. The frigidity was all over his face now, invading his mouth and ears, and freezing him into the most awkward position; he could feel it creeping towards his eyes. Frozen and paralyzed by the liquid, Cloud was helpless as he was engulfed entirely and then everything disappeared.

**~0 Lightning's POV o~**

Lightning was sitting at the little table in the cramped corner, staring distractedly out the window, when her friends emerged from their slumber. As they woke, one-by-one, they would each look around the room and ask, confused, where their seventh companion was.

"HE DID WHAT?!" cried Sazh incredulously as she finished her explanation. Fang sneered derisively and stalked out of the apartment; at Vanille's gasp of concern, Snow charged out after her.

"Look," said Lightning, dragging her polishing rag across the steel that was _Blazefire's_ gun-mode "it's as I told you before: we can't fight Barthandelus as long as he's got Serah and Dajh to use as leverage. Cloud told me he was going to go find them."

"_AND YOU JUST LET HIM LEAVE_?!"

Lightning dropped the rag onto the table and opened up the bottom of her weapon. She gave one of the weapons many mechanisms a rough tug and six black magazines toppled onto the table, replying simply "Yes."

"PLEASE CLARIFY: _HOW COULD YOU LET THE STRONGEST GUY ON OUR TEAM LEAVE_?!"

Lightning drew six more ammo cartridges from the leather pouch on her leg and rammed them, one-by-one, into their slots, feeling the familiar revel at the murderous 'click'.

"He told me that he was going to save _my_ sister and _your_ son-"

"_AND YOU BELIEVED HIM_?! In case you've forgotten: he doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to the truth, Lightning!"

"Yes Sazh, I believed him" replied Lightning coolly "Cloud wouldn't abandon us when we need him most…I have faith in him."

"Good for you Lightning!" Vanille's voice coughed and the room filled itself with the smell of burnt underpants. Lightning's nostrils crinkled as she replaced Blazefire into his holster

"Vanille, what are you doing?" asked Lightning sharply, moving into the tiny kitchen. Many emerald green potion vials lay empty and scattered across the floor and the red-haired girl stood waving a filthy pot holder, to fan the smoke out of the window, over an enormous metal pot that was issuing thick gray smoke.

"Oerban Elixir" explained Vanille after a hearty cough "Much more effective than those _dreadful_ Potions you Cocoon folk use." Lightning's gaze, however hindered by smoke, was staring around at the thirty or so emerald vials littering the floor.

"You used our entire supply of Potions?!" Lightning hissed, employing all of her self-control to keep from yelling. Vanille scooped up one of the bottles and began to ladle thick, smoking crimson fluid into them

"Trust me Lightning, you'll thank me when we need these. Get much more 'bang for your buck'" she said with her signature smile.

"EXCUSE ME!" Sazh interrupted loudly "CAN WE PLEASE GET BACK ON THE SUBJECT AT HAND HERE-"

"Sazh, give it a rest" said Hope's uninterested voice. Lightning shot him an appreciative smile but did not receive reciprocation. The silver-haired young man was sitting, cross-legged, in one of the broken armchairs and his nose buried in a giant, leather-bound book. Lightning felt a sure of impression towards Hope, having held on to that ancient manuscript since stealing it from the library in Taejin's Tower.

"Anything useful in there?" asked Lightning as Sazh threw up his arms in defeat.

"Nothing on how to stop a psychotic Fal'Cie from dropping a continent onto another, but there is a lot of useful magic in here that we can use on him the forceful way."

"That's the power of ancient Oerban magic for you" Vanille interjected smugly, moving over to her friend and began to read over his shoulder. Lightning left them to it, moving back into the kitchen; as she began to shove the five bottles back into her medical pouch ("Five!" she muttered indignantly, "We had thirty and now we're down to five!") her eye caught sight of the sunlight peering through the open window.

"Where have you gotten to, Cloud?" she wondered to herself; a sudden, loud thud cut across the stillness, causing Lightning to wheel around, issuing a loud crunch by stepping on one of the empty vials.

"Hmm" said Fang, inhaling deeply as she reentered the apartment "Oerban Elixir, just like the good ole' days." Though Fang was filled with nostalgia, Lightning could swear that she saw Snow gag from the repulsive smell; she could only sigh with a mixture of relief and annoyance.

"Well," started Snow, breathing cautiously through his nose, "Apart from the sentimental, there's not much here that could be useful to us."

Lightning stared curiously at him "What does that mean: _sentimental_?"

Snow cast a sincere smile at Vanille and pulled something very curious from inside his coat. It block of a robot, fire engine red paint dulled with rust, four wheels spinning happily and a pair of tubular eyes peering out from a flap on its top. It whirred rhythmically, in a form of pseudo speech.

"BHAKTI!" cried Vanille gleefully, darting past Hope and scooping the machine from Snow's hands, pulling it into one of her famous, rib-cracking hugs.

"Hey" said Snow letting the two Oerban's reunite with their old friend; Lightning nodded tentatively.

"Find anything?"

"Apart from some ancient scroll that tinker-toy over there was protecting, this place is as empty as it was before we got here…except for the Cie'th-don't worry" he said at Lightning revolted look "Apparently they don't like the light, so we'll have no problem getting around them."

Lightning sighed; it was the best news she'd heard all morning.

"You okay, sis?"

She looked into Snow's deep blue eyes; a dull color in comparison to the azure suns that Cloud had. The truth was: she wasn't okay. Cloud had deemed her ready to lead them, but she didn't feel ready; she knew what had to be done, but every natural instinct was screaming for her to run as fast as possible in the opposite direction. Lightning gave herself a gentle shake and lied quickly:

"Yeah Snow, don't worry about it."

"You-" Snow made to speak but paused with a curious look on his face. "Hang on, I just called you sis."

"What of it" asked Lightning sharply, her eyebrows raised.

"You _always _flip out when I call you sis but you didn't flip out that time."

Lightning freed and exasperated sigh but found, despite herself, a grin creep over her face. "Well you _are_ marrying my sister…I suppose I should get used to hearing it."

Snow's face shifted from thunderstruck to victorious faster than a traffic light and he let out a roar of pleasure that made the whole apartment jump.

"ALL RIGHT!" he cheered victoriously "Does this mean I get to learn your _real_ name too?"

Despite the good natured feel of the room, Lightning shot Snow one of her usual testy looks and uttered:

"Don't push it!"

"GOOD ENOUGH!" Snow laughed.

Sazh, who had been sulking in the corner of the room, let out a sudden, sharp hiss. The whole room fell completely silent; the bush pilot was staring out of the window and slowly flexed his arm in signal to come look. Lightning moved swiftly but silently, hiding against the wall and peered around the moth eaten curtains. Moving across the concrete courtyard, as ephemeral as a phantom, was someone clad in naught but snowy Purge robes. It was a female, Lightning could tell, from the curving, slender figure and petite size but her face was shrouded by the large hood on her head. Putting a trained hand on her weapon, the pink-haired l'Cie turned to her five companions and gave them a succinct nod, universal military signal for: _Let's go_! She received five nods in return.

Lightning filed out of the room first, moving down the metal grate stairwell as quickly and as stealthily as her heavy boots would allow and was in time to catch the woman disappear down another ramp to the lower part of town. She ran, filling her eardrums with the muffled sounds of twelve pairs of boots clomping, awkwardly stealthy. Lightning paused at the bottom of the hill, throwing up her arm, her fist clenched in a tight ball (all sound immediately ceased behind her); she peered around the corner, only to find that the woman was continuing placidly down the lonely street.

"What do you see?" hissed Fang's voice from somewhere in the back; Lightning held up a finger, making small counts behind held breath. Hold it…not yet…a moment longer…the woman had rounded another building and vanished from sight; she charged forth, pumping every last ounce of her strength into her legs. Lightning froze at the corner of the ancient wooden building, peering around it she found the woman entering the building.

Sliding _Blazefire_ from his black leather home, Lightning twisted her neck and hiss: "Snow, Fang: Cover the door; Sazh, you're with me!"

The four of them moved swiftly into place, Snow and Fang taking either side of the door, and Sazh raised his pistols menacingly. The door flew open and Lightning stampeded inside, her weapon poised for attack, and entered into the large room. _Blazefire_ dropped to her side simultaneously as her jaw hit the ground; she did not need to turn around to tell that the rest of the group had entered as well.

"What the-"

_What the-_seemed to be the general consensus among the group; half of the room had been blown apart, leaving a mammoth hole in the rotten planks.

"What could have done this?" asked an awestruck Vanille; Lightning knelt down to more closely inspect. What was left of the wood singed with a faint green smoke; a smoke she'd seen recently. Too recently.

"Cloud," Lightning mumbled so quietly that _she_ barely heard it "_Please_, be safe."

"Look!" said Hope quickly, causing Lightning to turn so quickly that she nearly cricked her neck. Out of the window, they could make out the form of the woman stepping onto the adjoining bridge. Forcing herself back into her senses, she pushed herself back into a standing position and made as quickly as she could up the stairs and out onto the roof.

"What the-?" the words tumbled from her almost instinctively. In front of the door, sat a towering crystal spike that was as black as onyx; giving herself another shake (and ignoring the others similar questions regarding the spike) she took off down the decrepit bridge.

The bridge was an absolute appalling! Falling apart and what wasn't in the lake below lay in massive piles of rubble, barricading their way. Using her superior mobility and military training, Lightning dodged around the wreckage and barely keeping the woman in sight; watching with a slight fascination as she strode unconcerned across a gargantuan break in the bridge, connected solely by a long strip of metal. Kicking her legs into overdrive, Lightning ran as fast as she could onto the metal conduit but halted immediately as it swayed disconcertingly from the sudden addition of her weight. Moving on at a restrained walk, and casting occasional looks behind her to check on the others (who were keeping up nicely), Lightning finally stepped off of the metal shard and onto the remainder of the bridge.

Lightning took a moment to study the woman from a distance: she was knelt down into a position of prayer and was stone still. She didn't like this one bit; who was this woman? What was she doing here?

"Light?"

The pink-haired warrior glanced around to find the group to have completely caught up to her. Gripping her weapon, she lead the group towards the eerie sight. The woman did not stir as they approached but remained steadfast in her prayer, sending chills down Lightning's spine; suddenly, she rose to her feet, face still hidden by her hood, and began to sing:

_Ragnarok, come Day of Wrath_

_O Pulse l'Cie. Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn._

_Ragnarok, come Day of Wrath_

_O Pulse l'Cie. Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn._

_That fallen souls might bear our plea_,

_To hasten the Divine's return_,

_O piteous Wanderer_, _Ragnarok_.

As her demented song ended, refreshing the chills across Lightning's body, she spoke:

"Make of this day, a brave epoch and deliver the divine, Ragnarok." With a grand sweeping motion, the woman pulled back on her hood and let it fall to her shoulders, giving the six l'Cie full blast of her face. Lightning could only stare with a mixture of amazement and horror: standing before them, with her typical smile, was her sister…_Serah_.

For a moment, for one, fleeting, second, Lightning's heart was filled with joy at her sister's return; however, her elation was quickly punctured, with the plain truth. This was impossible! Serah was trapped in crystal stasis somewhere in Barthandelus clutches, her being here was-

"Serah?" asked a breathless Snow "H-how did you-?"

Serah's smile broadened gently "I was waiting, for you to open your eyes." She moved towards the tall brawler and curled her arms around his waist; a move which Snow returned, with a cautious look on his face. "All the time I was asleep, I knew what was happening and I kept trying to think up a way to save Cocoon-together."

Lightning felt as though she'd been punched in the gut because that the moment Serah had spoken she thought, for the tiniest fleeting moment, she could see an nasty smile etch itself across her sister's gentle face.

"Serah?" Snow asked looking into the girl's eyes and pushed her away; Serah tripped over her Purge robes and collapsed onto her rump. However, there appeared to have no effect on her and she returned to her feet with a crazed and almost maniacal look in her eyes.

"You get it now" she said slowly "There are no gods with miracles to save us, no matter where you look. _That's_ why we have to call one: destroy Orphan, we'll save the world!" Her last words where imploring, with the expression of begging that she hadn't used in years. Just then, Lightning felt the unwelcome yet all too familiar sensation of creepiness trickle down her back…

"Stop it!" cried Lightning, reactively reaching for her weapon; the air around the six of them crackled with tension like electricity. Serah, however, looked nonplussed and actually smiled arrogantly.

"You can't do that, you love me too much" replied Serah coolly but her voice returned to its faux sweetness "You do: _don't you_, _Claire_?"

Lightning stared down Serah, her eyebrows furrowing, in a way that she never once imagined doing: like an enemy!

"Enough already!" barked Snow stepping in between the sisters "Listen up: we are all shooting for the same goal here-" Lightning's arms twitched, the first forcing Snow backward and the other shooting _Blazefire_ forward…

Serah erupted into a brilliant flash that jerked Lightning's weapon off course and wrenching her eyes closed. Forcing her eyesight back on her sister but found, to her horror, her no longer there: in her place stood a sour-faced elderly man in white clerical robes.

"And the result of that, is this" said the human face of the Fal'Cie Barthandelus.

"YOU SON OF A-!" roared Snow, darting past Lightning only to, once again, be blasted back on his rump at the force of Barthandelus shield. The human-form Fal'Cie raised an accusatory finger at the six of them and his beady eyes brimming with anger and disgust.

"You betray your Fal'Cie to chase after _dreams and shadows_? The world you claim to wish to protect now faces the end of days, with no hope of salvation!"

"I didn't think Fal'Cie had the means!" spat Lightning, calling Barthandelus bluff. However, her stomach knotted as Barthandelus deep, guttural laughter echoed across the stillness of Oerba.

"Oh it will not be Fal'Cie who destroy her" he explained acidly "For centuries now, Cocoon has provided, generously, for its human inhabitants' every want and need: _coddled them_, one might even say; the result being their deep-seated fear and hatred of change and all things alien!" As he spoke a curious creature, an unnatural fusion of owl and machine, seated itself atop Barthandelus staff.

"Fed, nurtured and ready to detonate at the slightest spark; the seeds of destruction take root, even now!"

Lightning raised _Blazefire_ over her head, the tip of the blade pointed downward; "What did you do to Cocoon?!" she roared, her anger boiling over the edge!

"I resigned," was the simple reply that cocked Lightning's eyebrow incredulously but earned several surprised gasps "and appointing Raines as Primarch in my stead."

"_Raines_!" shouted Snow, dumbstruck "_He's alive_?"

"The puppet is restrung to serve my needs, yes" replied Barthandelus coldly "It's eyes long since turned to glass. Of course-" a nasty smile split across the old man's evil face, lighting up his beady eyes. "-_the Cavalry's eyes_ will see our friend as nothing more than a traitor to their cause. They'll say '_The Fal'Cie got to him too_' or some such drivel! And imagine: when I spread word that it's Orphan tugging at his strings-what happens next?"

Lightning tightened her grip on _Blazefire_ as the horror tightened its grip on her!

"You're going to use the Calvary to take the thing out?!" cried Sazh, alarmed. Barthandelus nasty smile widened, revealing bronze, dagger-like teeth

"Perhaps" he said coyly "or perhaps I'll feign the howling of Pulsian wolves and let the fear-addled sheep slaughter themselves first! Either way, the end is at hand!" The dagger-toothed mouth broke open completely and released another fit of the terrifying guttural laugh.

"But what of yourselves?" chortled Barthandelus "Will you enjoy the festivities beside me? Or perhaps, greet the end here: in the land where it all began?" The little robotic owl atop of the staff flapped its wings once, rising high into the air, before diving down into the, former, Primarch's staff. There was a great flash of blinding radiance and a second later, Barthandelus gruesome transformation revealed its completion. However, the towering monster was no longer bronze skinned, but was, instead, a marvelous marble white. His mammoth head sat engrossed in an equally giant helmet. Raising one of his gorilla-ish arms, he swatted widely causing a great gust of wind to whip past them.

"OH THIS IS GETTING BLOODY RIDICULOUS!" Shouted Fang; a red shine reached Lightning's peripheral vision, once again signifying the set-up of Barthandelus battle ground. Stepping into her battle stance, Lightning called out to her two male teammates:

"_GUERILLA_!"

She moved as the azure rings burst around her like fire and she charged forward, striking Barthandelus armored face with alternating strikes of flame and frost. Launching backward into a powerful backflip (and forcing one more fireball through Blazefire's barrel to plow the Fal'Cie full in the face), Lightning watched as Snow charged forward, the palm of his hand radiating a mist of black and green.

However the tall, blonde warrior came flying backwards, as a blood-red beam burst from the mask and blasted him backwards. Fortunately, the full brunt of the attack had been staved by the bright purple stars emitting from Hope.

"_RELENTLESS ASSAULT_!" Lightning howled quickly; seeing the rings of blue and red burst around her two male companions, she led the charge. Lightning moved in close, doing an intricate dance with Snow as they alternated between attacks, _Blazefire_ burning brightly with the rainbow of magic it employed and balls of fire and bolts of lightning struck Barthandelus from a distance. Pushing off so Snow could smash his fist into Barthandelus face one final time, Lightning came skidding to a halt next to Hope (Snow joining her shortly after), the air ringing with a resounding gong-like note and Vanille and Sazh cheers. She stared the Fal'Cie down hard: something was wrong, he wasn't fighting back!

Suddenly: the mask cracked open like an eggshell and the helmet opened to reveal a familiar four-headed headdress and a gargantuan, pale-eyed, face, that opened further to reveal the humming of hot cannons ready to fire.

"HIT THE DECK!" someone roared; Lightning's knee's gave out and her head smacked painfully onto the concrete floor. Blinking the stars out of her eyes, Lightning did all that she could to keep herself as low as possible as the intense heat soared over her until, at last, she was enveloped in a blanket of cool mountainous air again.

_SURRENDER_ Barthandelus threatened gleefully; Fang retorted by shouting something so foul that Vanille gasped in surprise.

"I wish Cloud were here" said Hope quietly, pushing onto his hands and knees and breathing heavily.

"Yeah," replied Snow "Him and that Omnislash of his…"

Lightning's gaze quickly shifted from Snow and down to her _Blazefire Saber_; the _Omnislash_ would be an immense help right now, but her own was still not ready, it quelled in comparison to the sheer power Cloud's had. However, thinking back to the first one she'd seen in Bodhum, it occurred to her: the power of Cloud's _Omnislash_ did not come from the force of his swing (instead relying on the sheer weight of his weapon), but instead came from the speed of his attack. A grin cut across Lightning's face: without a doubt, she was _faster_ than Cloud and that was what she needed to play on!

"Stay down guys" she hissed to Snow and Hope "I think I can take him out!"

Rocketing to her feet and charging forward, Lightning lifted her sword above her head and swung it up in a diagonal attack. Twisting around, she repeated the action; the third attack was a heavy roundhouse kick across Barthandelus marble nose. Spinning into her next assault, she side slashed to the left, with masterful footing, stepped into another side slash and with equally graceful balance, she shot backward and the _Blazefire_ belched fire as, taking another chunk of Barthandelus nose off. Twisting around and pushing into a masterful backflip, Light brought her heavy boot down on the attacking area before transitioning into another heavy roundhouse; rapidly changing her weapons form, she dragged the blade across the heavily damaged nose in a wide armed slash. With both hands on the handle of her sword and using that masterful footing, she screamed at the top of her lungs as she spun like a tornado, striking the Fal'Cie three consecutive times:

"YOU LOSE!"

Barthandelus shrieked in pain, burying his face in his hands; there was a sudden flash of light and the giant Fal'Cie reverted to the form of Galenth Dysley, his back to them and a hand clutching his face.

"The time has come! Allow me to extend my invitation; to save a people beyond salvation, there is only Ragnarok

"Oh yeah?" challenged Lightning, shouldering her weapon.

"You're efforts are in vain!" Barthandelus croaked snidely "Your victory here does not assure you one on Cocoon!"

"You underestimate the strength of humanity" shouted Snow, moving beside Lightning "We aren't pawns in your stupid chess game; there are some who will realize what's going on and they'll rise up against you!"

To Lightning's horror, Barthandelus chuckled darkly "Are you referring to Cloud Strife?" Neither Lightning or Snow could not answer, as two painful knots twisted themselves inside her throat and stomach simultaneously.

"Rest assured: _I have much planned for him_!"

"WAIT!" Lightning bellowed but before _Blazefire_ could finish his transformation, a blinding flash, momentarily, stole her vision and when she regained it, the Fal'Cie had disappeared.

Lightning stared where he'd been standing, feeling as though she'd just swallowed an ice cube; a gentle hand on her shoulder. Turning her neck slightly, she found Snow standing close to her, gripping her shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't listen to him Sis," he said with a distinct hardness in his voice "he's bluffing."

"Yeah" concurred Sazh "Cloud can take care of himself, he's proven that time and again! Whatever, Dysley throws at him, I'll put money on Cloud throwing it back in his face!" Lightning nodded, smiling gently in appreciation.

"On a different note" said Hope, letting free an impressed laugh "LIGHT THAT WAS AMAZING! With skills like _that_, you're like a whole army!" The boy's comment warranted the group to roar with victorious laughter.

As he managed back his breath, Snow corrected "Yeah, but more like an army of one."

Lightning smirked at Snow's words but gripped the handle of her gunblade tightly; but then she reasoned: she didn't _have_ to tell him that he'd just named her new _Omnislash_.

_Army of One_, it had a nice ring to it…

"Well, what now?" asked Sazh sounding thoroughly discouraged "With no way to get back to Cocoon, it looks like the jig is up: Cocoon is done for."

Snow grunted angrily "He's got a point: as long as Fal'Cie are around, this fight is never going to end! So let's finish it: let's get Dysley!" Lightning nodded approvingly.

"_So what do we do about Orphan_?" cried Sazh "Do we help it? Keep it safe?"

"Then another war will break out somewhere down the road!" Fang argued, her hands firmly on her hips. "_We're l'Cie_, it's not like we can _make_ people stop fighting!" Lightning stared at the group incredulously, she couldn't believe that after all that Barthandelus had just said, after everything they had retorted with: there were still thoughts of leaving it at bravado alone.

"Lightning told me" said Hope his voice cutting through the silence like a knife "_It's not a question of can or can't_, _we just do it_. That's our only choice this time! Maybe it _won't_ do much and _maybe_ only one person will listen to us, but even then: isn't trying better than doing nothing?"

Lightning beamed with pride; Snow and Vanille let out cheers; Sazh shrugged exasperatedly. "Okay, the kid's gone crazy."

"Revolutionaries always get called crazy" said Fang with a great grin across her face.

"Then let's see this through to the end!" said Lightning; the group let out a concurring roar, including Sazh (however reluctant). "But first, we need to plan"

Gathering the group into a tight huddle, Lightning began the formation of battle strategies and a quick recalculation of combat phonetics ("Urgh, yes Snow" Lightning relented with a sigh "You can name this paradigm").

"…Alright, the teams will consist of: Snow, myself and Hope will lead the frontal assault; and Fang, you'll lead Sazh and Vanille. Depending on the level of resistance we meet will depend the necessary amount of force we'll need to use."

"How we going in sis?"

"The subtle way" replied Lightning with a slight frown "I think we should try to avoid being noticed as much as possible."

"I agree" said Hope sagely, "It'll be slow, but that's the best move we can make."

"That's all fine and dandy, how do we plan on doing this?" asked Sazh staring up at Cocoon "It's not like we can grow wings and fly." Lightning put a finger to her lips, her frown becoming more prominent; suddenly an idea struck her. Perhaps, Sazh was onto something: maybe, just maybe, _he was wrong_!

Standing quickly and placing a hand over her heart, Lightning concentrated on the pulsations emanating from her skin. "_Odin_, _I need your help_."

A familiar heaviness materialized in the palm of her hand; pulling back her hand Lightning revealed a familiar rose bud made, completely, of pink crystal. The crystal then did a very odd thing: it soared out of her hand and sat placidly in the middle of the air. A loud gasp came from behind and five bright lights charged forth and encircled Lightning's crystal. The crystal disappeared in the whirlwind of blue, green, red-orange and purple; there was a great flash of colorful light.

And when all had settled, a great smile cut across Lightning's face when she spotted the bird-like ship awaiting them at the edge of the bridge. The lights shot past her with a 'WOOSH' and disappeared; her own crystal landed lightly in the palm of her hand. Immediately, she could feel the natural transfer of thought and experience into the tiny crystal and being replaced with power; her true power.

Lightning turned to the group, all looking either confused or impressed, and said commandingly: "Let's go!"

The six l'Cie clambered into the ship which, though small on the outside, fit all of them comfortably on squashy leather seats. Lightning took no notice of the comfort but quickly lay _Blazefire_ across her lap and trying to channel all of her training in preparation for the final battle.

**Well folks, that's another chapter down. Only a couple of more and we'll be done awkward silence geez, don't get too excited…LOL, I kid. Unfortunately, I might have to stop for a while and focus on a paper I need to write for school, but I swear I'll get back to this ASAP. A quick shout out to my editor: Do7 (an excellent writer, check out his stuff). Hope you all liked it, please don't forget those reviews!**


	15. Chapter 12 part 1

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

The Materia began to secrete a very odd inky black liquid that ran down the length of his massive blade as though he'd hit it with a hose. Instinctively and reactively, Cloud hastily dragged his hand across the flat of the blade, which accomplished nothing except for drenching his hand in the fluid. It didn't stop there!

The black trickled down his arm like a plague (Cloud flicked his wrist to free himself from it but failed), covering his l'Cie brand, and crawling north towards his neck. The foul liquid pierced through his clothes and contaminating his skin with ice! The air in his lungs froze; he couldn't breathe! It was coursing up his jaw when the distinct smell of rotten cabbage rose to Cloud's nostrils. The frigidity was all over his face now, invading his mouth and ears, and freezing him into the most awkward position; he could feel it creeping towards his eyes. Frozen and paralyzed by the liquid, Cloud was helpless as he was engulfed entirely and then everything disappeared.

Cloud stood there, unable to move or breathe, but as helpless as a conscious stone sinking to the bottom of a lake.

"Got to-got to get free" escaped the words on the last remaining pocket of air from his body; he felt dizzy as his head went numb. "Have to—save-_Claire_!"

Suddenly, sound returned to him with an earsplitting series of 'CRACK'! His muscles relaxed so quickly that his legs could not support him and he collapsed; Cloud gasped loudly and echoingly as he breathed a free air once again. He sat there, breathing deeply and alternating between painful hisses in the face of his, seemingly, fractured kneecaps and elbows. Cloud waited a moment before standing (mainly to try and keep himself from shaking) when something else struck him; he could not see anything. Raising a shaky hand to his face, Cloud realized that his eyelids remained firmly closed.

"Come on Cloud" he coaxed himself calmly; he fought desperately against the heaviness that pinned his eyes shut. But, slowly and blearily, the weight began to wane and his eyes opened. The air was warm and the sky above was a perfect shade of blue; but he was surrounded by the shade of several concrete mountains.

A soft clatter arose from behind; Cloud spun, gripping his sword ready for the ambush. But there was no impending danger: there was only an alley littered with discarded newspapers and soda cans, with a familiar gray wolf sitting in the center. Cloud sighed with a mixture of exasperation and relief.

"Why did I have a feeling you wouldn't have trouble getting here too?" Cloud asked the Wolf whose eyes gave off the effect of a mischievous grin.

"So where are we?" the wolf did not respond but stared blankly at him (suddenly the thought crossed his mind: why was he talking to a wolf and why was he expecting it to answer?). However, as he looked deep into Fenrir's glassy-brown eyes, Cloud had the depressing sensation of being alone. Even though he was used to being on his own, this was different: he didn't topple Shinra or kill Sephiroth (something that he failed miserably at) alone. For the first time in a long time, he wished that he wasn't alone: he wished Claire were here. However, Fenrir gave a sharp growl, his ears flattening and eyes ablaze. Just then the oddest sensation crept up his arm; a sharp tickle surged through the sinews and making his eyes drop: his sword was vibrating!

This, however, proved itself to be inaccurate as the blade acted as liaison between arm and something was shining a bright, metallic blue. At once Cloud removed the silver Materia and the vibrations changed immediately to gentle, but unexpected, warmth. It pulsed once, and then again; since he'd gotten it, Cloud had never known the small orb to mimic a heartbeat. However, the warmth and gentle pulsations were comforting, and when he held it, it felt like Claire was near, encouraging him and revitalizing his resolve. Cloud smiled to himself, realizing the connection the Materia was forging between the two of them; he turned back to the wolf

"Alright," he said with conviction "so far this has been your little escapade…you got me this far, so what's next?"

The wolf's eyes blazed mischievously and it then turned, rounded the corner and vanished from sight. Cloud felt his forehead twitch as his eyebrows rose incredulously but he moved his legs down the alley; stepping out of the shadows, Cloud thrust a hand of his eyes to guard them from the intense, blinding radiance of sunshine that seemed to burn his corneas into oblivion. Allowing them to adjust, Cloud reopened them slowly; he was standing on the side walk of a magnificent, shining metropolis that had once made him feel thirteen-years-old again and on his way to Midgar: intimidated and alone.

_Eden_.

Cloud couldn't help himself from looking around with the insurmountable confusion bearing down on him.

_What was going on_?

Just a moment ago, he'd been in Oerba which had to be thousands of miles away and now he was back on Cocoon: _in the capital city no less_! But the tip of the iceberg was when Cloud's eyes fell upon the street where he found the second biggest shock of the day: parked in seclusion was an immaculate black and gold motorcycle, standing dependent on its kickstand before him. He could only laugh in both shock and awe as he reunited with _The Fenrir_.

"I can't believe it" Cloud breathed "I thought they turned you in scrap metal." Putting his foot on the accelerator, Cloud pushed his heel firmly down; the engine revved loudly, its mighty roar echoing throughout the empty city.

Cloud sighed in relief "Damn it's good to hear you again old friend" (he was suddenly very grateful no one was around to hear that).

Placing his fully fused Sword onto his back, Cloud swung his leg over the bike and the engine hummed intensely as though it were happy to see him too. However, something caught his eye; dangling from the handlebar was a small black cellphone: _his phone_!

"No way!" he guffawed incredulously, snatching the phone and flipping it open; the battery was at full capacity and, again, he had five hundred new voicemail. Cloud roared with laughter at the stupidity of the whole thing: _the stupid thing is worse than the 'effing' Materia_! Sliding the Materia and phone into his pocket (a spot which Cloud found that he subconsciously missed), and revving the engine with another almighty rumble, he took off.

He barreled down the road, steering with his knees, avidly scanning the eerie sight before him: there was no sign of life. The streets were empty; all cars had been abandoned, no stragglers trotting the sidewalks, there was nothing but an unnatural silence throughout the city. A thrill of fear surged across his skin and his hand reached nervously for his weapon; the last time something like this happened, he was ambushed by three demonic teenagers (though the likelihood of being attacked by brainwashed children was decently slim).

As he zoomed past another block, Cloud saw a door fly open in his peripheral vision; he slammed on the brakes and turned his head slowly. An interesting duo stalked down the street: the first was a tall, olive-skinned woman clad in scanty purple clothing while her companion was a mousy, blond teenager wearing very baggy clothes. _She_ was carrying a pair of brown-paper grocery bags in each arm; _his_ neck kept twitching as his young eyes were scanning. Normally Cloud wouldn't have paid them any mind, under the circumstances, however, two things stuck out to him most: the first was the young man's spastic twists of his head, the obvious telling signs of someone who does not want to be followed (aided by the occasional snaps of the woman). The second: was that he knew them!

The best feature about _Fenrir_: despite its size, it could be very stealthy when Cloud needed it to be and he employed the bike's miraculous skills as he flipped the bike around and followed them, racking his brains to try and remember the two. He followed the two for several blocks, slowing down to avoid being spotted and nearly losing them twice, when at last they disappeared down an alleyway. Cloud drove past the alley, checking with his peripheral vision, and saw nothing but an empty space; Cloud instinctively slammed on the brakes.

Something wasn't right. Nobody just disappeared; especially in the middle of a city (whether or not it was empty)! Parking the bike in the shadows of an adjacent building Cloud froze before dismounting; _Fenrir_ had been parked in an easy access, quick getaway location but carrying around his hefty sword was going to be problematic.

"Moron" he thought to himself as he ejected the hollowed _Avenger_ and placed his six-remaining swords in the bike's weapons rack. Walking as inconspicuously across the street as a spikey-haired, sword wielding man could be before slinking into the shadows. The alley was as barren as the one he'd arrived in had been; the only difference was the inclusion of a large, rusty-green trash dumpster. Raising an eyebrow cautiously, Cloud moved over towards the only investigable area.

The empty, molding cheeseburger wrappers and rusted soda cans looked as wrinkled as they were upon abandonment; however, the concrete surface underneath it looked heavily scratched like after multiple moving's. Taking ahold of the dumpster, a strenuous heat stretched across the sinews in his arms and the large metal crate shrieked loudly. After a moment, there was a wide enough passage to reveal a lone metal door in the side of the concrete tower; passing through the narrow walkway and prying open the door with his shoulder, Cloud peered inside the building. There was a long, dark hallway that was blacker than the abyss of death and a sense of foreboding washed over him. This was a terrible idea. However, he steeled his nerves and pulled the dumpster over the door with a screech of metal on concrete and sealing himself in cool blackness.

He wandered down the hall like a blind man, stumbling forward and groping for the walls so he didn't persistently run into them. After what felt like an eternity of darkness, Cloud found his worst nightmare: a split in the hallway; however, instead of experiencing terrible disorientation, salvation found him as light at the end of the right corridor. Moving towards it, the loud clanking of machinery and the intensity of heat bared down on him; dropped down to his knee, Cloud peered out.

A massive number of people were hard at work downstairs, some were dressed in blue jeans and T-shirts; civilians obviously. But the more surprising was the presence of the gold and cream of Guardian Corps! He watched curiously as the civilians were repairing large trucks with welding torches, GC soldiers worked in teams to load them with cargo and one that stood in full uniform spewing commands over the racket. In one particular team, two young men clad in gold jackets, stumbled forward, dropping their load, and the mammoth crate tumbled to the ground and opened with a loud '_Crack_.'

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?!" chided the uniformed commander, "BE MORE CAREFUL, THIS STUFF IS LIVE!"

Cloud inched out onto the metal catwalk to get a better look, and then stared with a mixture of shock and awe: there was enough ammunition scattered on the floor to supply an entire battalion! His gaze hardened, observing as the two began to clean up their mess; these people were planning an attack. But why; what were they after; _what could they possibly gain from this_? However, his silent speculation ceased instantly as the threatening '_shik-shik_' of a priming rifle stared down the back of his head, causing the hairs on his neck to stand on end.

"Don't move a muscle!" hissed a sudden, deep voice from the darkness behind.

Cloud breathed slowly, his lungs tightening as he attempted to keep himself calm; he raised his arms half way, fingers spread-wide, in faux surrender, skin drenched in goose bumps. He only had one chance and he needed to be fast. Twisting on his heel and knocking aside the rifle with his wrist and, curling his fingers, smashed his fist onto the man's nose. The man howled loudly, dropping his weapon and cradling his nose, blood gushing from between his fingers.

In an act of surprise and sheer desperation, and despite whatever pain he was in, the man lunged, seizing Cloud by the waist and began punching every inch of him that he could reach. The force of the sudden weight knocked him over, farther than he could correct, and the two of them toppled over. A sharp pain bit into the crook of Cloud's back as he hit the edge of a stair, more punches flurried around him as he curled his fingers around his attacker's throat. The chaos of the world tumbling around him making him nauseous, until with a powerful kick to the gut, Cloud landed on top of the man and placing the edge of his mammoth sword at the base of his neck. Breathing heavily and victoriously, Cloud's stomach horribly lurched as the violent sound of priming rifles growled all around him.

"Gib id ub bunk!" spat the man, his voice muffled by blood and the concrete floor "You're outnubbered!"

"And _you_ need to listen" hissed Cloud coldly, feeling the man's shoulders stiffen as he pressed the edge of his sword against his neck "I am not your enemy!"

The room when silent with asphyxiating tension; however, Cloud heard someone lower their weapon and step forward, though he didn't dare turn around. Then a voice came, both amazed and disbelieving: "_Captain Strife_?"

Cloud's eyebrows rose almost automatically. He hadn't been addressed by _that_ title in weeks and now here was someone calling him. Not letting up his grip on the _Avenger_, Cloud turned his head to the mass of people…

"It is…_It is you_!

"HEY EVERYBODY, IT'S CAPTAIN STRIFE!"

"_He's alive_?"

"Sure as hell is!"

And suddenly, every hand that was holding a rifle to his head had come together in raucous applause (the rifles dropping harmlessly to their sides). Several of them raced forward, either to clap him on the back or help the man underneath him up; getting a look at his face, Cloud immediately recognized him as the dark-skinned, bright red-haired man from the Bodhum Raid, only this time he didn't have a bloody-bandage draped across his face.

"Cabin Strive" said the man, clutching his furiously bleeding nose and filling his mouth with blood "Id's rude to breag indo plazes without knogging."

"Sorry about that" sighed Cloud, holstering his swords"But _you_ should know better than to sneak up on intruders."

As the man shook with laughter that couldn't escape, a group of five came tromping forward; the first two was the pair that he'd trailed but their companion was a familiar but, still, oddly dressed teenager with blue hair. It was then that he remembered them: they were Snow's lot, NORA.

The remaining two were undeniably Guardian Corps. and familiar faces to boot.

"HI CAPTAIN!" cheered the blonde Private Benoit, forgetting all dignity and waving like a mindless idiot. Cloud waved back, half-heartedly. Her companion, the sandy-haired O'Bannon, stepped forward

"This is great: we've got one Captain back, now we've-"

"Whad are you doig?" howled the man, his skin turning chalk-white "Ged bag to worg!" He shooed away the pair of, highly affronted, soldiers; the man's steps looked unbalanced.

Before anyone had a chance to speak, Cloud placed the palm of his hand on the bleeding man's face and felt a gust of pure white spiral down his arm and blast the man full in the face. Dropping his hand a full second later to observe his work, Cloud watched the man gingerly touch his no longer bleeding nose. While the others looked highly impressed, Cloud's mouth worked before he could be interrupted:

"What's going on here?"

"We're stockpiling ammunition and supplies for when the Cavalry attacks the Sanctum" replied the teenage boy simply. Seeing the look on Cloud's face, Gadot picked up:

"It started a few weeks ago, after the Purge at Bodhum; it became more than obvious that something was screwy inside PSICOM and we needed to find out what they were up to. We tried everything: espionage, infiltration, hell we even tried pickpocketing. Nothing! Couple days later, with some godly skill, Maqui was able to hack into the PSICOM mainframe…"

"It wasn't that hard, actually" said the mousy young man "I didn't really do anything. The mainframe had already been hacked in the past couple of weeks…"

"…and we found out that the Sanctum was planning something. There wasn't much detail but we could tell that it's bigger than the Purge. We weren't going to just let them get away with that. So we started a resistance and, like Maqui said, covering the basics: stockpiling ammo, supplies and manpower."

"Who do you have?" asked Cloud

"Civilians mostly, but then we enlisted some rogue GC soldiers. They joined us after the Palumpolum incident; overall we've got about three-hundred. It's not much, but it's something."

Before Cloud could question him further, his blue-haired friend piped up.

"_Now you tell us_!" (the olive skinned woman hissed indignantly "Yuj!"). "First there's the raid on Bodhum, then _you_ get arrested by PSICOM! After that there was the Palumpolum Massacre which you were said to have taken part in! Then you disappear only to show up again here!"

Cloud felt a mixture of guilt and embarrassment surge through his body: _massacre_? _He'd caused a massacre_? And just when he thought his day couldn't get any worse…

"Yuj is right" said the red-haired man, folding his arms to make himself intimidating "How can we trust you?"

"Normally you shouldn't: but under the circumstances, you don't have much of a choice" replied Cloud calmly. The man roared in anger and the woman intervened with a stern look

"Gadot-"

"NO!" he thundered "DON'T YOU GET IT, LEBREAU: THIS GUY ISN'T ANSWERING ANY OF OUR QUESTIONS AND WHATEVER HE _DOES_ SAY GOES IN CIRCLES! WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO DEAL WITH THIS NOW: WE'VE STILL GOT PLANNING TO DO AND WE'VE GOT TO BE READY IF THE L'CIE COME OUT OF HIDING…"

It was here that Cloud put his foot down "You don't have to worry about the l'Cie!" he spewed venomously causing the group to stare at him incredibly "They're your allies."

"What?" inquired the mousy teenager "How can you be sure?"

"I _know_ them," Cloud explained "I've been travelling with them-"

Gadot let out another angry roar and charged, his fist raised. Cloud side-stepped, catching his attackers wrist and twisted the arm. The dark skinned man collapsed to the ground and Cloud locked him into an immovable form of submission by forcing his face into the floor.

"You damn traitor!" Gadot shrieked causing many to turn their heads "How could you do this! Pulse is our-"

"_Pulse is not you enemy_!" Cloud snapped fighting Gadot's struggling "Neither are the l'Cie! Clai-I mean, Lightning is leading them!" Just then Gadot stopped struggling and the room descending again into tense silence.

"What-_Lightning_?" said Gadot blankly, unsure if he'd heard correctly.

"Yes, she's one of the six l'Cie…and so is Snow."

"NO!" moaned Lebreau a look of exasperation on her face and terror in her eyes. Cloud turned back to Gadot, who'd gone limp in his arms;

"Are you ready to hear me out?"

Gadot made no response and remained still; Cloud released him and he stood slowly, rubbing his wrist. Turning to the group who stared at him intently, Cloud began. He told them the finer points of their journey but forgoing the details of Barthandelus and Sephiroth (not wanting to cause a panic). As he finished, Cloud was left to stare at the looks of confusion and shock; none of them appeared to want to believe him but seemed to be in no position to refute his words.

"So they plan to take on the Sanctum too, huh?" said Maqui exchanging worried looks with Lebreau.

"Do you have any way to contact them?" said Gadot sharply; Cloud shook his head. "Damn it! They need to be warned!"

Cloud stared "Warned about what?"

"Captain, the l'Cie are the six most wanted people on Cocoon!" explained Lebreau "Hell, _you've_ made number seven on that list! Raines will have the entire Home-guard after them the second they try anything!"

"So then, let's help them!" said Gadot "We've got the supplies, we could clear the way for them!"

As Maqui and Yuj let out cheers of agreement, it became Cloud's turn to looked shocked.

"Raines? Brigadier General_ Cid _Raines? What's he got to do with this?"

The four NORA faces became grave; "He ain't General anymore" said Gadot contemptuously "He's Primarch now; replaced Dysley a few days ago."

Cloud's eyebrows furrowed; this didn't make sense! Lightning said she'd seen him turn to crystal so how could he be in charge of an entire continent?

"Why? Should he not be…"

Cloud stared at Lebreau with a sense of understanding. They didn't have any idea who Raines really was or about his fight with Lightning and the others; and at the present moment they didn't need to know.

"It's not important" he said, waving his hand "Look, if you guys are preparing to do something crazy, I need your help to take it one step further to insanity."

His words causing the five of them to stare at him; "Come on Cap" laughed Gadot arrogantly "We're planning an attack on Eden! That's the Home-guard, _pride_ of the Sanctum Guardian Corps., and the _entire_ PSICOM army! Whatever you're planning: I seriously doubt it's as crazy as that…"

"…I need to break into the Sanctum Headquarters!" Cloud interrupted. He ignored the irony of the timing at which he'd spoken and remained as straight-faced as he could in light of the shocked looks around him. The blue-haired Yuj laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah right," he said disbelievingly "Good one!" However, when Cloud did not reciprocate the laugh, the boy's face merged with the crowd of overall horror. "_Y-you're serious_?!"

Cloud stared the young man dead in the face: "The Primarch's office, to be more precise."

"You're nuts…"

"_ARE YOU KIDDING_?! YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY THINK IT'LL BE AS EASY AS WALKING THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR!"

"Captain, no offense, I don't think you've thought this through…"

"…forget that: _you've completely lost your mind_!"

Cloud absorbed the walla of disbelief as calmly and collectedly as possible; saying it to himself made it sound crazy and stupid, but saying it aloud to others had brought up what it really was: _suicide_!

"Why?"

The question cut through the chatter like a dagger through paper; Cloud met Maqui's curious gaze, the incessant babbling silencing almost immediately. He hesitated: now was the typical crossroads that he usually found himself facing; either to confess or shut them out entirely.

"I ca—" he started but found his lips melting together; he'd nearly told the boy that he couldn't tell him. However, staring into his stern, young face, Cloud could see the fierce determination in his body language. Something they all seemed to share. It struck Cloud, just then: this was their home, they had a right to fight for it too and who was he to keep the truth from them? He took a breath to regain his composure and then quickly decided not to tell them the full story, as to avoid a panic.

"Dysley's planning something" he said quickly, coming close to the truth but tactfully avoiding the full story "If he succeeds something bad is going to happen."

"_What's_ going to happen, what's he gonna do?"

"He's got a—er—a weapon" he lied, rather lamely "If he gets a chance to use it he'll crash Co—_Eden_ onto the ground. Millions will die if Dysley succeeds…but I know where it is and I know how to stop it; I just need to get there first!"

The group stared at him, exchanging looks of incredulity, before cracking into victorious grins.

"Alright Cap," said Gadot popping his knuckles "We'll back you up-NO!"

Cloud's sudden outburst caused the four of them to jump and the warehouse fell silent, all eyes on him.

"I mean, er" he said, reigning back his emotions "Look, I'm not _actually sure_ what's guarding it, but if he's got it at the Sanctum headquarters, then logically, he's keeping it in the safest possible place: with Eden."

Cloud held his breath; he was taking a gamble, leveling with them. However, relief came when the looks of horror reignited on their faces.

"_Eden_?" said Lebreau numbly, "The god of Fal'Cie…"

"No way…"

"So what's Plan B?"

The question struck Cloud as odd. He'd just laid out his plan to them and they were asking him for a different one. Cloud shook his head slowly.

"You can't be serious" moaned Yuj again, "Captain if you're trying to keep us safe by not letting us come with you then you'd be putting yourself in danger! No one goes to see a Fal'Cie without express permission because, if they did, they'd become l'Cie faster than…"

"I'm not concerned with becoming a l'Cie" said Cloud, subconsciously gripping the elbow where his own brand lay hidden. "I've taken on a Pulse Fal'Cie by myself, and won! I think I can handle myself down there."

The looks of wonderment and amazement, that had welcomed him to Cocoon, had returned in their usual radiance. Maqui and Yuj exchanged grins and Lebreau looked approving; however, it was Gadot that still looked unconvinced. But suddenly, he spoke loudly and sharply:

"ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP! EVERYONE MAKE YOUR FINAL PREPS, WE PULL OUT IN TEN!"

The effect had not been what Cloud had expected; the large mass wreaked of uncertainty and they suddenly became very clumsy as the sound of things dropping echoed throughout the warehouse. They were terrified, that much was plain (and rightfully so, thought Cloud), but something about this just didn't seem right.

"Who is leading the assault?"

"I am" said Gadot, his smug grin returning. Cloud, however, frowned

"No" he said plain and simply. "I understand you've got guts, but that's not always what's needed to lead! These people need a leader-"

"Well seeing how we're short-handed at the moment and the only "capable" leader we've got is walking out on us…there's not much of a choice in that department!"

"Oh, on the contrary" said a voice, a voice so new that Cloud whipped around, holding _Avenger_ aloft. A soft tapping came reverberating down the hall as the new man came forth out of the shadows accompanied by the two Bodhum soldiers.

"Captain, this is what we needed to tell you! We've found a volunteer" squealed Benoit, with almost uncontrollable enthusiasm

Cloud felt a grin split across his face as the light hit the man full in the face; "It's good to see you again Captain."

"Likewise," said the man, a familiar, reciprocating, grin widening his face "I'd just overheard your concerns Captain Strife and I assure you: these men and women are in good hands."

The four behind him erupted into cheerful laughs; "Damn it's good to see you sir! I mean, I was never GC, but I'd follow _you_ anywhere!"

The man smiled politely but a seriousness overtook his good-natured demeanor and the man became as professional as ever. He spoke loudly, far more so than his frail body should have allowed:

"YOU HEARD THE MAN! MAKE YOUR FINAL PREPS, WE PULL OUT IN TEN!"

Cloud sat, engulfed in darkness, his Fusion swords disassembled (the parents strapped to his back and the other four blades, resting comfortably in his harness) and _Fenrir_ rumbling beneath him. The plan was fairly simple: while the assault against PSICOM began, Gadot and the NORA gang would get him past the Sanctum's outer defenses before turning back to join the Captain. Cloud would then proceed on his own. Despite the simplicity of the plan, Cloud's mind was in a million other places: first of all, was his brand.

Six more spikes had grown and the slit-like eye had fully dilated, revealing a single snowy pupil. Having not been raised around the mythos of the l'Cie, Cloud wasn't in the least terrified by his predicament nor did he have the remotest idea of how he was going to complete his own Focus; however, he fully understood that his time was quickly running out and he needed to act fast. The progression of his brand had also brought him to thoughts of his own plan…once he got to the Sanctum: what was he going to do? Getting to Cocoon had taken up a good majority of his original thought process, but now that he was here…

Then there was Raines; would he put up a fight? Become opposition that he'd be forced to eliminate; and if it came to that: would it attract the attention of his master? However the thought of the Fal'Cie brought him around the most important of all his thoughts: Claire. He hoped she was alright and that he'd see her soon; it was also the thought of his pink-haired love that seemed to train his mind on the task at hand. He was just going to have to wing it.

Something metal slid open with a loud 'THUNK' and bathed the back of the truck in light.

"Cap, Gadot and Lebreau just launched, get ready sir" said Maqui quickly; pressing his goggles against his face, blocking all light completely, Cloud flashed him a thumbs up. There was a loud click and the truck's rear metal gate slid apart to engulf him in sunlight and the sounds of incessant gunfire.

"Here we go again, Fenrir" Cloud whispered soundlessly to his bike, revving the engine loudly; the truck gave a horrible lurch before the outside world ran together like wet paint. Holding on tightly, Cloud floored the accelerator and shot from the back of the truck like a bullet, making a beeline straight for the Sanctum.

Explosions burst up from the ground all around as hot lead whizzed past him. He twisted his neck slightly to see a single hovercraft in hot pursuit, its machine guns ablaze! Cloud swerved and ducked down into a narrow alleyway, rubble and dust exploding overtop of his head but did not slow his pursuer. Pulling back out onto the streets, drifting with the screech of burning rubber to avoid overhead gunfire, Cloud took hold of _Ascalon_ and twisted the bike one-hundred, eight degrees, staring down his assailant. Swinging as hard as he could, the blade spit out a bright blue beam and struck the front of the hover-bike, its weapons erupting in a noisy blast! However, the loss of its weapons did not stop the pilot of the craft as he sped past. Cloud replaced his weapon and floored the accelerator in a mad attempt to catch up; if he didn't, he'd lose the element of surprise.

The pilot of the hovercraft was a crazier pilot than Cid! Swerving all across the sky, doubling back and nearly crashing several times; but Cloud remained persistent in his chase. As the pilot swerved for another double-back, Cloud grabbed _Ascalon_ and _Avenger_ and flung himself into the air. Spinning out of control and ascending further skyward, the spikey-haired warrior swung the parent blades with all of his strength, the distinct screech of metal on metal attacked his ears, before he began the stomach lurching drop. Flipping himself right-side up, and holding his breath, Cloud let out a loud 'Oof' as he hit the bike (which remained upright). A deafening roar and a massive wave of heat signaled that his blind aim had been spot on and his enemy lay a burning heap on the ground.

Pushing himself into a more proper position on the bike, Cloud replaced his weapons and sped off, pushing the bike faster and faster. He'd failed. The explosion and smoke would draw the wrong attention and that had narrowed his options away from the preferably more subtle. Skidding off of the street and zooming down a long narrow bridge, Cloud saw it: the towering citadel that was better known as the Sanctum Headquarters. Soldiers patrolled around the gargantuan structure in an almost lackadaisical rhythm and paid no mind to the motorcycle that was barreling towards them. Checking the security of his swords, Cloud rammed his knuckles down upon a blue dial on the dashboard (transferring throttle control to the handlebars) and pulled his legs up into a crouched position, as he prepared for, possibly, the stupidest stunt he'd ever pulled.

By this time, the guards had noticed Cloud and had begun their lazy attempts to get him to slow down. But Cloud ignored them, pushing _Fenrir_ faster and faster; his peripherals were blurring, the wind alone threatened to unseat him. The guards were shouting now, shrieking at him to "HALT, DESIST!" some were even firing warning shots but Cloud didn't care, he couldn't. It was way too late to turn back now!

Letting go of the handlebars and straining his leg muscles in a powerful backward push; his vision went topsy-turvy, both with the unintentional flip and the rapid deceleration, but he could just make out his bike disappear in a blur of black and gold. As he touched back down, there was an ungodly screech and screams before an earth shaking crash! The bike smashed through the blockade of soldiers and came skidding to a glorious halt in a rain of sparks. Taking advantage of the disarray, Cloud ran!

Pushing past the multitude of groaning or unconscious soldiers, the spikey-haired man barreled up the stairs and reached for the entrance.

"FREEZE" roared an almighty voice; Cloud's muscles locked, his neck hairs rising in alarm as his back faced the priming of numerous weapons. "TURN SLOWLY!"

"_What now Cloud_?" he thought furiously, the impending thoughts of a single false step and he'd be turned into slag looming over him! Obligingly turning, hands raised in faux surrender, Cloud faced the Sanctum forces. They'd mobilized so quickly, springing out of trenches in the concrete; too fast, an obvious trap! He stood there, counting them silently; the ones who had popped from their trap could easily number in the forties, and the ones from earlier that were coming too and being helped up by the new comers, added another ten to the mix. Wondering how on Earth he was going to pull this off, an odd smell reached his nostrils…a mixture of gasoline with something he could not quite place.

"READY!" roared some faceless commander; the soldiers readied their weapons for the second command. Cloud stared all around, seeking the cause of the smell…

"AIM!" the soldiers pointed rifles, machine guns and rockets at the unmoving man. Cloud's eyes fell upon his downed bike; heat rising from a gas leak from the inner machinations, dribbling through a manhole in the ground and sparks dancing merrily. One of them caught on the fumes.

Cloud reacted a fraction too late as a gargantuan blast erupted from the ground, shaking the world and throwing him off his feet. He never heard the glass shatter, but he felt it; tucking his chin into his chest and guarding his face with his arms, Cloud felt the tiny bits of shrapnel collide with the bare skin of his right arm and on his back as he landed on them; however, nothing felt worse than having his head bounce off of more than one _very_ hard object.

Allowing order to settle back into the world, Cloud raised his head, giving it a hearty shake and allowing the fragments of broken glass to fall from his hair. Rocketing back to his feet, Cloud stepped through the broken doors. If he thought he'd had it bad with a few scratches and a headache, that was nothing compared to those were much closer to the blast. The soldiers lay spread out on the ground, mostly dead, a few heavily concussed. Turning to view the culprit, Cloud found, much to his dismay, that his motorcycle lay in a burning (to say the least, blown-up) wreck and several manhole covers dislodged from the ground; a misplaced septic tank had saved his life. Bidding a silent, heartfelt farewell to his motorcycle, Cloud turned back inside, resisting every tempting urge to break something in retribution for his destroyed bike.

It was as he remembered from before: white washed walls, marble floors and smelling heavily of alcohol disinfectant, Cloud moved down the entrance hall with purpose. The whirring of machinery cause him to halt; suddenly, a man with dark hair came rushing down the stairs, the biggest chain gun Cloud had ever seen strapped to his torso; the spikey-haired man reached for the swords nearest his hands, drawing the twin dagger-blades quickly. The man let out a maniac roar as he held down the trigger; moving his arms in wide, circular movements and rotating his wrists, Cloud spun his blades into blurs and stepped into the hail of gunfire.

The hall rang loudly with the collision of hot lead on tempered steel; Cloud winced as his form occasionally faltered and allowed a stray bullet to graze his body and force him back a step or two. But the man remained adamant in the battle and found a pleased grin flash across his eyes as the maniacal look on the dark-haired man's face turn to one of fear. Pushing his exhausted legs up the staircase, his vision distorted by the blur of his swords and the nearing muzzle-flash. Cloud assaulted his ears once again with an unbearable screeching, as the twins cut through the hot metal of the gun-barrels before swinging widely and oppositely, the tips of the blades cutting deeply into the man's chest, spewing blood. Both the man and his mutilated gun dropped to the ground in a growing pool of scarlet.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Cloud replaced the twins in his harness and drew the brother and sister blades, _Vendetta_ and _Vigilante_. Flipping the saw-toothed blade so it sat reverse in his hand, Cloud headed, cautiously, up the stairs.

PEOPLE OF COCOON, MY FELLOW CITIZENS-

The voice echoed throughout the building on the speakerphones. Cloud listened distractedly, focusing more on the stairs.

-WE HAVE SURVIVED THE TWILIGHT AND GATHER NOW TO WELCOME THE DAWN ON WHICH WE DECIDE OUR FATE. MANY ARE THE LESSONS WE HAVE LEARNED DURING OUR LONG NIGHT OF HARDSHIP AND SACRIFICE AND NOW WE FACE CHOICES, WHICH MUST BE MADE OF AS OUR HEARTS DICTATE, AND NOT ABANDON TO UNCARING CHANCE. LET US FORGE AHEAD WITH UNFLINCHING COURAGE AND HONOR THE FALLEN WITH ACTION! WITH THESE HANDS: WE SHAPE THE FUTURE!

Cloud chuckled sardonically; how much of what Raines said was true, he hadn't the faintest idea. But he wondered if anyone else could see through the fallacy of his words. Then again, he was a politician, and a good politician was better than even the most adept liar.

However, he was rudely brought from his thoughts as something, hard and heavy clocked him around his eye. Pain exploded on contact and Cloud felt something wet and sticky slide down the side of his face; staggered and blinking blood out of his eye, Cloud found himself unprepared for second, sturdy blow that smashed hard onto his back and forcing him onto his knees.

A third heavy blow hit him again; another struck him again on the head; pain dominated his body. Gripping his sword and mastering his senses, Cloud raised the saw-toothed blade and flung the other over his shoulder, catching two loud clangs. Throwing out his arm, staggering one of his attackers, Cloud twisted his shoulders and dragged _Vendetta_ across the torso of the second attacker and painting the wall a shiny red. Turning face the other (revealed to be a PSICOM soldier), he flipped _Vigilante_ right ways again and jabbed it forward; the soldier was hit by a monstrous blue light and slammed against the far wall, before slumping to the ground.

Cloud leaned against the wall, panting, and wiped a mixture of sweat and blood off of his face; he'd have to be more vigilant if he was going to avoid a repeat ambush. Throwing a tired arm into the air, he felt the cool of a magic wind engulf him, healing his wounds and restoring strength to his body. Placing the brother and sister blades back in his harness, he drew the parent swords and fused them with a quick '_shik_' before throwing the saw-toothed blade and his sister into the mix. Shouldering his incomplete Fusion Swords and carefully gripping the handle of _Merciless_, he continued up the stairs and violently kicked open a chestnut door at the very top.

What he saw nearly made his arm explode from pain.

It was not the overwhelming sight of two massive war-machines and a blood-thirsty behemoth with snowy banners fluttering from its earrings. Nor was it the heart-stopping amount of soldiers between him and the other end of the vast garden-like room. It was the air itself; flecks of shiny crystal littered the air like snow. Though the crystal shards drifted harmlessly across the air, their presence warranted the prospect of splitting his arm in half; this had to be more Fal'Cie mischief.

_Barthandelus_!

Blinded by pain, he charged; joining the twins with the rest of the family, Cloud twisted on his heel and swung his hefty blade. Cutting the first machine in half as though it were butter, he pushed into the air and evaded the massive swipe of the Behemoth's razor-sharp claws. Pushing off into a spin, the screech of metal on metal assailed him again as he ripped into the second machine; pushing off the destroyed robot and lugging his sword of his shoulder, slammed it down on the charging Behemoth's neck. The gigantic beast hit the ground with a massive 'THUD' and a stomach lurching 'SNAP'.

Abandoning the corpse of his latest kill, Cloud took off down the long, black marble corridor swinging widely and indiscriminately. The massive weapon mowed down whatever was unfortunate enough to be in front of it, splattering Cloud in a mist of blood and gore; but the spikey-haired warrior was still too consumed by an enraged fire to notice. Soon enough his pace began to slow, his swings becoming clumsy and tired; _the pain was winning_. His arm was going to explode…he couldn't see or breathe.

He could sense the great rush from his body, feel a burst of flame and a brilliant bright green light tore through the darkness and filling his lungs with a harsh breath of life.

When he came to, he was face down on the ground, the air rich with the stink of fresh blood. Cloud pushed himself onto his knees, a fierce drum thundering away in his skull, and his sight fading back slowly; lifting his head, Cloud stared around. He'd made it some ninety yards around the massive room before collapsing onto a large golden platform, bodies all around him. In spite of the overpowering stench of blood in the air, Cloud actually found solace in the revelation that many of them were still moving. His gaze shifted down to the crook of his arm, which the spikey-haired man stared at intensely. The hidden brand radiated a phantasmal green light, alarming Cloud. He was quickly running out of time, and he needed to keep moving.

Getting to his feet and, quickly locating his sword (which had lodged itself into the ground in front of him), made a mad dash for the elevator. He held the blades aloft as the golden doors slid open; the lift was empty, and he entered, punching in the topmost button. Cloud slumped to the floor and breathed deeply and calmingly; his Mako blue eyes shifted down to where his brand lay hidden. His earlier pain had passed but there was something else, more curious about it: before the brand, his torture came with snide comments from Sephiroth; but since he'd been branded there had only been pain and a flash of light. Cloud racked his brains but, for the life of him, could not think of a logical answer to his question.

Before he could pursue the thought any further, a flashing light caught his eye. The light on the button had begun to blink. Cloud shot to his feet and stared out of the large window; he was only supposed to go to the third floor, but he was rocketing higher and higher!

As the elevator slowed to a halt, Cloud turned to the door, a single thought in his mind:

"This can't be good."

The doors slid open…

Awaiting him was a hallway filled with soldiers! They raised their weapons with angry and determined growls. Throwing down his arm, a golden shine radiating from his shoulder, several jet black orbs burst from his arm and erupted onto the ground in a dense smoke. The soldiers coughed and sputtered, their weapons firing instinctively; taking advantage of his distraction, Cloud dug in his heel and flung himself onto the elevator window. It proved to be the second stupidest stunt he'd pulled in one day! The glass cracked like an egg-shell and shattered, plunging the spikey-haired man down to the world below.

The wind rustled through his hair, stinging his eyes. Throwing out his arms and praying for a miracle, Cloud fingers curled around something solid and flexible. Swinging around acrobatically, there was another headache inducing crash as the momentum shifted into the object and flinging him forward, through the window, into the elevator shaft before coming to a halt on hard, stable floor.

Cloud lay there, breathing heavily and hoping that his motion sickness wasn't going to take over; after a moment to allow the nausea to pass, he pushed himself onto all fours and gave his head a hearty shake; tiny shards of glass hit the ground with a soft 'tinkle'. A loud 'SLAM' brought Cloud's sword into attack position but found the source to have come from the elevator door closing. He sighed, his legs shakily; he wasn't sure how much more of this his stomach could take.

Putting it past him, Cloud turned and moved slowly, allowing his legs a chance to recover. He entered into a new room, lined with alabaster walls and ornate rugs; several squashy armchairs and sofa's outlined themselves around a central chestnut desk. Taking a step further into the office area, Cloud found him. Sitting in a swivel chair, staring out over the city (which was glowing with distant explosions), was a man with long black hair and robes that shamed the white of the walls; the youngest Calvary general in history, current Primarch and enemy l'Cie.

"Captain Strife," said Raines without turning around.

Cloud obliged with an equally cool "Primarch."

"I assumed you dead," he said dully.

"Funny," replied Cloud without losing his cool "I can say the same about you."

"Lightning told you about our encounter in the vestige, I presume?"

"As sure as she told you about what happened in Palumpolum."

Cid chuckled. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of your company Cloud?" he asked spinning in his swivel chair "How may I be of assistance?"

Cloud studied Raines for a moment: the two of them, however involuntarily, were mortal enemies and yet he was being as cooperative as possible. Remaining firm in his resolve not to trust him, Cloud looked Raines dead in the eye and said seriously "I need to gain access to the Fal'Cie Orphan."

Raines gave him a cold, appraising look "Nobody goes to see Orphan and even if they did: you'd have to go through the Fal'Cie Eden first."

"You don't understand: I have to make sure that Dysley doesn't try anything!" said Cloud warningly. Cid interlaced his fingers, looking Cloud over meditatively,

"Why would you need to protect a Fal'Cie from an opinionated old man?"

"Can the crap Raines!" said Cloud impatiently "I know, _you_ know, who Dysley really is! And I think you know what he's planning to do!"

The dark-haired Primarch turned his back to Cloud; "You don't understand" he said slowly "Barthandelus is my master, I must obey him, I haven't a choice."

"_There's always a choice_!" said Cloud fiercely "You don't see Claire and the others rolling over to play the part of obedient dogs! You have the opportunity to do the right thing; billions of lives are at stake!" Raines shoulders visibly stiffen; Cloud silently cursed his own corny-ness (he'd let Yuffie and Marlene talk him into too many cheesy movies) but pressed his advantage and foraged onward.

"Listen to me Cid: you can still salvage, what's left of, your dignity but if you're that resigned, I'll do us both a favor and end it right here!" Raines was silent for a moment before speaking again

"What of Lightning and the other l'Cie? I thought it was their Focus to save Cocoon?"

"Lightning is taking a more subtle route to Orphan; I can't guarantee what happens _after_ she reaches the cradle, but _I'm_ simply clearing the way and making one less thing for them to worry about" replied Cloud gently. Raines was silent again.

"Raines, I'd rather not force it out of you" said Cloud threateningly, gripping the handle of his Fusion blade; however, Cid burst into harsh laughter.

"Threatening the Primarch Cloud? Your time with Lightning appears to have made you bold." Cloud didn't answer but his hand twitched on his swords handle. "Behind that portrait" he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to a gargantuan painting of himself "Is a lift with only two destinations."

"Thank you" Cloud sighed in relief, releasing his sword. Moving over to the portrait, taking firm hold of its golden frame and squatting down, he felt a dull but intense pain blaze through his thighs as he lifted the heavy picture. Dropping it onto the marble floor with a heavy 'CRASH' Cloud saw it: a single, brass elevator large enough for only one person.

"Captain?"

Raines voice called out to him and he paused; without turning around he responded "What is it?"

"You must exercise extreme caution" said Raines voice, warningly "Barthandelus is waiting for you. He'll do what he does best: talk. He'll lie to you and try to trick you, he'll even make you believe that you've gone mad! But you've got to remain as adamant and steadfast as you were with me if you want to survive. You're going into his territory and he'll have the home field advantage in that God-forsaken slice of hell."

Cloud squeezed into the metal tube, which shook disconcertingly and nodded in response before throwing the latch to cause the lift to lurch before lowering. Before disappearing from sight, Cloud could hear Raines last two words:

"Good luck."

Cloud did not answer, but instead pulled back on the metal lever and the elevator shuttered once before descending with a lurch. The tube was lit with pale, fluorescent orange light and moved at a painstaking pace; his eyebrows furrowed. Cloud didn't like this one bit: the plan had been going perfectly, _too perfectly_. With all of the altercations and obstructions he'd come across, nothing had truly been enough to stop him from proceeding onward. Even Raines gave in a little too easily. Now he was descending into the belly of to the beast, knowing full well what was waiting for him. This was going to end badly…for who, he wasn't yet sure.

Suddenly, the lift quivered again before sliding open; Cloud stepped out of claustrophobia and into oddity. It was a dark room that heavily resembled a church sanctuary, complete with ambient light flowing in from the stained-glass windows. He moved slowly up the stairs and found something he was expecting even less.

In the center of the room, atop a stone pedestal, were two crystal statues: one of a young child encased in a block of rock and the other of an ornately carved young woman, lying asleep on her crystal bed.

_Serah and Dajh_!

Cloud couldn't believe what he was seeing: the focal point of his mission was sitting directly in front of him! However, before elation could cloud his judgment, Cloud took a humanizing breath and stepped carefully. This was obviously a trap but he was in no position to do anything other than spring it. He stepped onto the landing before the pedestal and his muscles froze; the air abandoning his lungs. Cloud stared curiously at Serah and was reminded of his apology.

"Here we are again" he said in a voice no louder than a whisper, and he dropped to his knee to humble himself before the situation. "I once apologized to you for everything that had happened to you since I came into you and your sister's lives; but I'm not sorry anymore. Claire has really opened my eyes, I'm not the same, sniveling, coward that I was when I ran away and came here; I swore that I'd get you all out of this mess and it's about time that I started living up to that promise." Serah's crystal offered no response, but Cloud felt an approving aura radiate from it.

"_How_ _sentimental_"

The voice crept from the darkness with an unnatural silkiness but pierced Cloud's back like poisoned ice. However, the strength of his resolve kept him calm and he made no attempt to reach for his weapons.

"You have finally achieved your goal, yet the only thing standing between you and success, _is me_."

"So" said Cloud bravely pushing himself back up but refrained from turning "You're the notorious Fal'Cie that's been harassing my girlfriend; you're reputation precedes you, _Barthandelus_!" Cloud turned slowly.

Standing opposite him was a man in clerical robes so white that he stood out like a phantom; a heavy staff was clamped in his right hand and his face was wrapped in heavy bandages. Cloud stared curiously but had the sudden urge to laugh (though he refrained)

"What the hell happened to you?"

"A minor altercation" said Barthandelus nastily, stepping forward and beginning the climb up the stairs. Cloud instinctively widened himself to act as a barrier.

"Altercation," he chortled harshly "Looks more like you got struck by Lightning! Don't worry, I know the feeling myself."

"You jest at your situation?" the Fal'Cie interrogated bitingly "Humans do the oddest things before they die."

He muttered something but Cloud only caught the word "…insignificant…" and he couldn't help himself.

"I might be insignificant but let me remind you that it was those same insignificant humans that did _that_ to you!"

Even Cloud couldn't believe his own daring! What the heck was he doing? Why couldn't he shut up?! However, Barthandelus smiled wickedly.

"Trifles. What matters now is that the final part of my trap has been set and you have kindly completed it."

Cloud's eyebrows furrowed "What are you talking about?"

"There was hesitation after you left" said Barthandelus, pacing slowly "But your arrival here means that Lightning will come for you."

Suddenly it all made sense! And Cloud felt like a monumental idiot for not seeing it: Barthandelus _had_ factored him into the equation. "You planned this…"

"And you played your part so well" said Barthandelus, his eyes flashing malevolently "like a pawn in a well-played game of Chess."

"You didn't factor in me leaving" said Cloud threateningly, raising his sword "After I get these two out of here, that'll completely remove the reasoning for them to come here." But to his horror, the humanoid-Fal'Cie burst into raucous, psychotic laughter.

"And at last we have come to the quintessential human delusion: you seem to be operating under the assumption that you are going to leave here, _alive_."

Barthandelus rapped the floor with his staff, creating a loud echo; there was an earth-shattering crash and the ambient cathedral broke away to reveal a bloody-red skied new dimension, with platforms flying past from one end of the room only disappearing into some black void at the other side. For the first time that day, in spite of all he'd been through, Cloud felt that same nerve-wracking fear that tingled his spine that he'd encountered in his final battles with Sephiroth.

"So what now?" said Cloud, faking bravado but gripping his swords even tighter "You're gonna keep me imprisoned here?"

Barthandelus beady eyes flashed malevolently, though his psychotic smile broadened; "You overestimate your importance. You are here to draw the l'Cie to me and now that you have accomplished that: _you have worn out your usefulness_!"

Barthandelus threw forth his arm and flung a bolt of bright blue magic; though it came faster than any natural force, Cloud saw it come in slow motion. He reacted instinctually, raising his arm rather than his sword, waiting for an end that he could not avoid.

He erupted into pain. It was worse than any attack he'd endured from Sephiroth and his elbow exploded in a white-hot flash of brightest green. Cloud collapsed onto his knees, clutching his arm and resisting every urge to scream.

"God damn it! Not now!" he thought vehemently, gnashing his teeth in a failing attempt to keep his pain in.

"Well, well" said Barthandelus his face stony but his voice intrigued "There is more to you than I thought, _l'Cie_."

He spoke with extra emphasis on that last word, but Cloud could only sit there, knelt down and shaking with pain. Despite the intense pain that dictated his body, Cloud could feel a dull heat bare down on his palm; as though the eye of the brand was staring hatefully at the Fal'Cie.

"Intriguing, I'd never imagined what would happen to an outlander when they were touched by Fal'Cie."

"W-what are you saying" Cloud spit out; he leaned over and vomited; Barthandelus looked on in disgust. "Do you know what's happening to me?"

"Your body is filled with a magnificent energy but like the rest of your kind, you over-exposed yourself and thus inherited the curse of the planet!" He pointed a single, clawed finger at his arm "That mark grants you the supremacies of the divine. Can the power of the planet truly overtake the will of Gods? No. They battle for dominance, until one is inexorably squashed out."

Cloud took a deep breath, absorbing in what he was hearing; so his sickness was being squeezed from him, only to be replaced by an eternity of enslavement. Not a bad trade-off, all things considered. However, he could feel his pain alleviating more and more, but he needed more time, a chance to attack before he could move.

"I see. So, you gonna try and kill me again? Or are you going to point me towards the door?"

Barthandelus sneered "The exit is there" he jabbed his finger in the direction of a bridge directly behind him. "Not that it matters you will never see the outside world again."

A supernatural growl reached Cloud's ears, and the corners of his mouth twitched. _His time had come_! Pushing his forehead to the ground, a rushing sense soared over his back with a menacing snarl. Shooting to his feet and following Fenrir's lead, Cloud swung widely. However, his attack fell short, missing the Fal'Cie's throat by inches.

"You waste your efforts," chided Barthandelus; suddenly, his arrogant face turned grotesque, before turning his back to his captive. "It appears that I will not be able to finish you off as I had planned; Lightning and the others have arrived and are in need of a final push. You have served your purpose but now it is over. KILL HIM!"

Fenrir lunged, its thrusting blade extended; it cut through Barthandelus but instead of hitting the floor in a bloody heap, he vanished as though he were nothing more than a whiff of smoke. However, Cloud, at present, wasn't as focused on the disappearance of his enemy as he was on the wet, hungry rumbles that were coming from behind. He turned.

The escape bridge that Barthandelus had referred to was swarming with enormous crystalline creatures, each with pale bodies as transparent as glass and staring at him and the wolf with a single, malignant bloody eye. Cloud stared at them, keeping his face stony but feeling his stomach drop into oblivion: the only thing between him and freedom was a small army! Seriously, would this day ever end?

Cloud turned back to the sleeping statues, knelt down quickly and whispered "Don't you guys worry, just sit tight and I'll get us out of here."

Picking up his sword he turned back to face the ambling mass, all swiping their massive black claws at him. "You ready?" he said to the wolf; Fenrir growled in response. Cloud took a calming breath and his right leg moved instinctively, followed closely by the left. Then they began working together to form a brisk walk, faster and faster until he had broken into a full run. The wolf by his side, Cloud raised his hefty blade and let out a tired, ready war cry!

**Hey guys, here it is, the chapter you've been waiting so many months for. Listen, I'm sorry if I keep you guys waiting, but I have been swamped with work and school (mainly school). I will try to work on getting the next chapter up; but fair warning: it is going to be a monster, my first three part-er! So if it takes a while please bear with me because (as some of you know) this will be this story's third anniversary and it's still not done and I'm ready to be done with this! Don't forget to review and have a nice day!**


	16. Chapter 12 part 2

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

"10…9…8…" Sazh began his countdown, flipping an odd combination of switches, lighting the control panel light a Christmas tree. The engines ignited; a low, slow hum at first before erupting into a deafening roar! Lightning clutched _Blazefire_ as tightly as she held her restraining belt as the ship began to shake with excitement.

"…3…2…1: LAUNCHING!"

The ship gave a startling lurch before their stomachs were left behind with an enormous burst of speed, leaving Oerba far behind! Lightning tried to pry her neck off of the head rest but was rendered immobile; an array of green and blue merged together in her peripheral vision. A heavy pressure sat down hard on Lightning's head as the ship made a ninety-degree turn straight up! Vanille screamed loudly as the interior rattled ever more violently; _they were picking up speed_!

"SAZH! LET OFF OF THE SPEED!" Lightning's voice was lost in the rush. A near inaudible gasp shifted her gaze forward; Cocoon was enlarging at an alarming rate! It was getting closer, a shining green barrier standing as a lone sentinel. There was the tinkle of breaking glass and the ship began slowing ("It's not my fault!" roared Sazh over Fang's vehement swearing).

Lightning hardened her gaze, focused on the sight of the floating city before them. Crawling over the fish-shaped hull of the machine keeping Eden afloat, the ship flew into a city far more glorious than Palumpolum with skyscrapers that threatened to touch the top of the world. However, before she could admire any more of the capital, the ship gave a nasty lurch and turned towards the heart of the city.

"IT'S NOT ME!" Sazh bellowed again, throwing up his hands in surprise and defeat "THE SHIP'S DRIVING ITSELF AGAIN!"

Lightning unbuckled her safety harness, pushed up towards the cockpit and looked out the portrait hole. The controls, acting of their own accord, were now steering them towards a brightly lit and heavily populated arena. Seizing the control panel, Lightning tugged to veer off course but the ship remained adamant in its set route.

Lightning hung her head in exasperation: _so much for the subtle way_! But just then, a sharp, clear voice cut across the stillness of the day:

PEOPLE OF COCOON, MY FELLOW CITIZENS-

"That's Raines!" cried Hope, Lightning shushed him impatiently

-WE HAVE SURVIVED THE TWILIGHT AND GATHER NOW TO WELCOME THE DAWN ON WHICH WE DECIDE OUR FATE. MANY ARE THE LESSONS WE HAVE LEARNED DURING OUR LONG NIGHT OF HARDSHIP AND SACRIFICE AND NOW WE FACE CHOICES, WHICH MUST BE MADE OF AS OUR HEARTS DICTATE, AND NOT ABANDON TO UNCARING CHANCE. LET US FORGE AHEAD WITH UNFLINCHING COURAGE AND HONOR THE FALLEN WITH ACTION! WITH THESE HANDS: WE SHAPE THE FUTURE!

The outside suddenly became very dark as they entered into the artificial shading system of the arena; the roar of the crowd below pierced through the hull, and the rumble of race-bikes battling ferociously with them. The ship was beginning to shake horribly; there was a flash and it gave a sickening 'Crack' and then ship split apart completely.

Lightning felt her stomach fall away as she and the others tumbled through the air. However, a blinding radiance caught her eye, and the crumbling airship began to transform! Seven forms burst forth from the light, one of them, was a tall pale-skinned warrior; Odin came barreling towards her, reaching out his hand.

Reaching out and taking her Eidolon's hand, Lightning pulled herself into a controlled dive (her peripherals catching sight of the golden-armored warrior contorting himself into the majestic horse) before landing in Odin's saddle.

An ear-splitting crash reached her ears; turning her head, Lightning found Snow and both of his Eidolons pumping their fists as they succeeded in keeping a race-bike from crashing. "AND THE HERO SAVES THE DAY!" bellowed his voice, which was amplified greatly by the many media drones flying around the track.

A terrible scream cut across the air. Looking up, a massive holo-screen was showing the visions of a particular drone. It had zoomed in on Snow's arm: the one revealing the tattoo of a single, bloody red eye; Lightning rolled her eyes, training her focus back on the situation (though making a mental to hit him later).

"NOW!" Lightning bellowed to her partner; pushing into a powerful backflip, her ears filled with the mechanical sounds of Odin's transformation, she thrust out her arm. The firm grip that grabbed it, flung her forward so fast that her eyes began to water, though it didn't stop her from pulling _Blazefire_ from his holster and opening fire. Six bullets nailed into the first of three bikes that charged her (it fell in a fiery wreck), and a painful surge collided with her feet as she landed on the second. Pushing off before the driver could get a hold of her ankle, Lightning planted her newly transformed blade into the body of the third bike, bringing her face-to-face with its pilot.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" he snarled, pointing a handgun in the center of her forehead. However, Lightning swatted the weapon away and curled her fingers around his neck.

"You first" replied the pink-haired l'Cie, pulling him off of the bike and he screamed as his head bounced off of the raceway.

BRATATATATATATATATAT!

The hail of machine gun fire soared all around her; Lightning flung herself inside of the bikes cockpit to avoid the bullets. The third pilot had returned! Transforming her weapon again, Lightning returned fire, squeezing the trigger multiple times but was unable to get a clear shot at such high-speeds.

WHAM! The driver of the other bike had been so fixated on her, that he failed to notice the obstacle in his way. He made no outcry as he died in the blaze. However, the wreckage was moving at such a velocity that it did not fall back and instead crashed into the commandeered vessel that Lightning had been riding; but the l'Cie used her superior reaction time to leap from the bike just as both vehicles disappeared in a large fireball.

"ODIN!" Lightning called her vision nonexistent and entropy all around her. A flash of white and gold and the horse saved her from the fall.

_You called, My Lady_? Said the horse playfully.

"Nicely done!" was Lightning's reply, holstering her gunblade and taking command of Odin's twin blades "Now let's go!" The shading system of the arena suddenly disengaged, bathing her and the rest of the chaos in sunlight. Something very large rushed overhead; Odin let out a shrill whinny, nearly throwing Lightning from his back as a navy colored Warmech flew overhead.

"_Anavatapta-class_" Lightning thought "_Not a problem_." Anavatapta's packed a pretty punch but they traded defense for power! Combining her Eidolon's swords, Lightning twirled them around like it was a massive, albeit deadly, baton. As the blade masterfully spun in her hand, Lightning released deadly scythes of wind that plagued the unfortunate robot before sending it into a wide stagger. Launching off her Eidolon, Lightning twisted into a spiraling slash, unleashing the _Zantetsuken_ in all of its fury.

Hitting the ground and skidding to a halt, Lightning's arms felt considerably lighter as the blades vanished with their master and the Warmech crashed to the earth in a massive inferno. Pushing herself into a stand, Lightning made no reaction as her allies moved beside her.

"What's that sound?" she wondered aloud, as she peered over the edge of the racetrack and down to the sight below.

The city was plunged into utter bedlam!

Large black and purple bubbles were popping up all over the city and each one ejaculating a threat of varying degrees of horror! The massive, dangerous looking machines were busy swatting away cars on a freeway with its bulky, chainsaw-like arms; angry winged Cie'th were flying like locusts and descending upon the horrified civilians. However, nothing compared to the heart-stopping 'THUMP" of the dinosaur-sized turtles smashing downtown to rubble.

DAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKA! DAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKA!

Large military airships were descending on the war torn city, launching rockets and emptying massive machineguns on the dinosaur-turtles. Pulsian Wolves were locked in combat with PSICOM Pantheron's; Guardian Corp forces were busy emptying clip-after-clip at Cie'th that would swoop down, snatch up anything standing still and flinging it away to unknown places from a hundred feet up. _Eden was at war_!

_Say again patrol and speak clearly!_ Snapped a voice that cause Lightning to nearly fall off the track. She turned to find Sazh, looking solemn, fiddling with the radio of one of the crashed race bikes, and pausing on a staticky broadcast.

_The armies of Pulse! They're using transgates!_ Replied a second, terrified voice.

_TRANSGATES!_ raged the first_ How many coming through?_

_Number unconfirmed, but it's a full scale invasion! Eden's being overrun!_

Lightning's eyebrows furrowed; it was much worse than it looked! They had in no way been anywhere prepared for a fight of this magnitude…

Another deafening roar, and the massive PSICOM Fortress erupted into flame; the six l'Cie could only stare.

"W-Wha-What is going on out there?"

"It looks like the Calvary's made their move" said Hope, his grey eyes staring intensely towards the clouds of billowing smoke. The pilot shook his head, still messing around with the radio.

"There's more to it than that. They're saying Eden's crawling with Pulse nasties."

"Fresh off the Ark I'd wager."

"This is out of control" said Sazh stepping off of the bike and throwing his arms up "What will happen to Cocoon?"

"It's all-out war" said Lightning sagely. Hope's confidence waned and his eyes fell to his shoes.

"Did we cause this by coming back? Barthandelus prediction…it's all coming true." Lightning stared at him, a mixture of sympathy and dumbfoundedness, he made a point and she couldn't help but feel his thought becoming like poison spreading throughout the group.

"Well his future stops right here" said Snow his confidence alleviating the poisonous thoughts "We're the ones who decide what happens next."

"Yeah!" cheered Vanille, "Let's get moving!"

"Yeah"

"Okay"

With Lightning leading the charge, the six of them took off at top speed. Lightning pumped her legs for all they were worth, her muscles singing; but once again, her superior training began to take over and Lightning had to force herself to halt to allow her comrades to keep up.

"Do you think that's where Cloud is?" wondered Sazh, staring at the Sanctum tower (which was still issuing a heavy cloak of fire and smoke).

"Assuming he got here at all" replied Fang sardonically; Lightning's shoulders stiffened but ignored them both. Cloud was here, he had to be…she had a feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. But again, she couldn't deny the point: the likelihood that Cloud was, in fact, here was next to impossible. However, Lightning forced herself to remind herself that he'd accomplished the impossible before. She had to believe in him.

A monstrous cry brought Lightning from her thoughts as they came upon a small, half-moon platform and a masked woman came charging towards them. Whipping out _Blazefire_, Lightning easily parried the woman's jagged blade and plunged her gunblade deep into the woman's stomach. She twitched several times before dropping her weapon and falling to the ground in a bloody heap.

"What the hell?"

"Lightning…is it me, or does this woman look a lot like you?!"

The pink-haired l'Cie knelt down to examine the body; true enough to Snow's observation, the woman was clad in a silver GC uniform, her face hidden behind a helmet, and her weapon appeared to be a spiked knock-off of her own.

"My _Blazefire Saber_ is a top level weapon" Lightning explained "It makes sense: combat your enemy with an enemy."

"Or in this case, replicating them piece for piece!"

Hope's words sparked something in Lightning's mind and she began to fervently search the corpse. And then, she found it. Attached to her thumb and middle finger, was a small device connected to a small computer device on her belt; popping a similar device from her own, Lightning quickly replaced it with the woman's. It hummed quietly but jovially, leaving a slight sound of electric charging.

"Okay, I don't know about this" commented Sazh peering over the edge and looking directly down. Lightning walked over to him and found a, normally, dizzying drop, she gripped the small Manadrive tightly.

"If only we could fly" said Vanille who had crumpled onto her hands and knees after looking down.

"We can jump" said Lightning with a small grin; counting back ten steps, she could feel the looks of confusion bear into her back.

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" was the last words she could hear Vanille cry as Lightning turned sharply, taking off at a run, and pitched herself off of the platform before the roaring of wind overtook her sense of sound.

Falling at a rapidly growing speed, her cape wiping around madly, she could see the forces mobilizing below. Drawing _Blazefire_, Lightning snapped her fingers; the tingling sensation of electricity spread over her skin, radiating a powerful aura of bluish-black; she could feel it's power slowing her down and (as her boots touched down on solid ground) she launched several soldiers within reach skyward with the resident power of a brand new Grav-Con Unit. Taking notice of the awe-stuck soldiers before her, Lightning quickly flicked _Blazefire_ into its blade-mode and charged.

Catching the first two off guard, Lightning dragged her sword upward, twice, in a spinning attack and burying three inches of steel into the underarms of each soldier before forcibly planting her boot into the cheek of a third. Stepping with her left foot and swinging her sword widely, she caught the fourth soldier across the chest; she repeated the action to the right before shooting backward and burying hot slugs into the helmet of the sixth soldier. Gracefully transitioning into her masterful backflip, Lightning collided her boot mercilessly with the neck of the soldier immediately behind her and then spinning, on the foot that touched down first, the back of her opposite boot and smashed it into the head of the other (hearing the bones crunch as she went) transforming her weapon again, she slashed widely. Snapping her fingers and feeling the familiar, but long since felt, feeling of electricity coursing over her skin, Lightning took hold of her weapon with both hands and launched herself backward, spinning like a tornado of pestilence and felling enemies left and right.

Her vision becoming topsy-turvy as she flipped herself upright; Lightning stuck a perfect landing, watching as all of the soldiers crumbled to the ground, as she returned _Blazefire_ back to his holster with a flourishing flick of her wrist. There were several soft 'FLUMPS' and a shrill shriek behind her, signifying the arrival of her allies.

"You could have warned me!" shouted Vanille, sweat dripping down her face and looking thoroughly harassed. Fang, on the other hand, looked as though she'd had the time of her life, her dark hair windblown.

"That's how they get around on Cocoon" she laughed.

"That's how _Light_ gets around" corrected Hope, brushing the dirt off of his jeans. Lightning did not join in the festive conversation and pushed off into a heavy run!

"Hey sis, what's the plan now?" called Snow from somewhere behind her. Lightning felt her legs carry her farther and farther and spewed over her shoulder

"Plunge in headlong and straight for the heart of the Sanctum."

Not long after her run began, it came to a dead halt and, at the sight before her, Lightning felt the blood drain from her face. The bridge before them was jammed full of PSICOM units, each readying to deploy to the combat scenes below; Lightning backed away, thanking her lucky stars they hadn't seen her, but several hard slams knocked her to the ground.

"Lightning, what are you doing?" barked Fang, helping up her comrade; the pink-haired l'Cie pressed a hurried finger to her lips ducked behind an abandoned vehicle (something they all mimicked) and gestured around the car. The five of them each peered around the edge of the car. Hope quickly slapped a hand across Vanille's mouth to prevent a mammoth gasp from escaping.

"That's one heck of a party" whispered Snow, faking a grin "So what now?"

Lightning glanced at the large obstruction of soldiers; there was no way around them but if they attacked head on, they'd be shot to ribbons! There had to be something that could be done, some kind of loop hole…

"_What the hell are you doing_?!"

Lightning turned back just in time to see Sazh rise to his feet and move out from their hiding spot.

"Sazh, No!" Vanille moaned fearfully. Lightning watched him with furrowed eyebrows; he moved with such confidence and pride, she couldn't believe that he was, invariably, committing suicide right near the end!

"Hey!" shouted one of the soldiers, spotting Sazh (who had drawn his pistols), "What are you doing here?!"

"GET BACK OR WE _WILL_ USE FORCE!"

The sound of priming rifles and rockets rang loudly throughout the confined space; Vanille covered her eyes; Sazh raised his pistols. Lightning could only stare at what she could not believe.

Sazh opened fire, his first four shots coming in quick succession; however, it was not bullets that were launching from the weapons. Orange orbs of magical energy, the size of fists, came spewing out of the barrels and touched down on the convoy with explosive results. The next three volleys came from the right hand, the fourth from a trick shot from behind the neck; three ammo trucks erupted into flame, soldiers fell to the ground, dead. Raising his pistols into the sky, two final orbs swelled to the size of basketballs before launching and hitting the ground with a deafening roar and an intense wave of heat.

Lightning stared with a mixture of impression and awe; Sazh turned putting his pistols back into their holsters with a flourish, a broad grin lighting up his face.

"Shall we?"

"SAZH THAT WAS AMAZING!" squealed Vanille running up and catching the pilot around the waist in her infamous, bone-crushing hugs.

"Nice work" said Lightning, patting him quickly on the shoulder and taking off again. She let his actions stand as praise enough as she dodged past the enormous holes blasted into the bridge and sped off, leading the charge again.

Several minutes passed without major incident, though the explosions down below were growing disconcertingly more consistent. Then something quickly caught her eye: attached to the bridge in a very hurried fashion stood several large, metal drop pods. Staring ahead to find no more than a long stretch of road, Lightning pointed concisely towards the pods and then ducked into the nearest pod; things then got very cramped as Snow and Hope made their way in.

"See you guys down there" said Snow, as Fang and the other two disappeared into the second pod; the door slammed shut and bathed them in red-emergency lights.

"Cross your arms and stand as straight as you can" Lightning instructed Hope, instinctively taking the position.

Hope blinked "Why? What's gonna happen?"

"Imagine that last jump, only much less fun." Lightning immediately felt the boy shift into the rigid position; she even sensed Snow's back stiffen (though probably pondering what Lightning considered fun and not fun).

The cables holding up the pod gave way and every muscle in Lightning's body tingled in the free-fall; the contents of her stomach felt as though they would slither its way out of her esophagus. Hope let out a petrified scream; Snow let out a cheerful "WOO-HOO!" Lightning rolled her eyes in annoyance…he was gonna regret that.

There was a violent jerk and the pod shook raucously, tossing Snow to the ground. The soles of Lightning's heavy boots absorbed the worst of the jostling, though her knees and neck shuddered roughly and she remained firmly upright; the silver-haired boy beside her faired decently well, though his legs gave way and collapsed onto her. Helping the boy to his feet, all movement of the pod ceased and the door slid open again to shower them in bright sunlight and the massive romp of heavy traffic. The trio moved slowly out of the metal deathtrap, Snow cradling his head in his hands and moaning in pain. Lightning held _Blazefire_ at arms-length, turning her back to Sazh, whose pistols were held aloft.

BLEEEAAAARGH!

Lightning turned her neck slowly and found the two Oerban women near their pod, keeled over and being sick all over the side of the road.

"I don't like Eden anymore" groaned Vanille, her face a greenish tinge "Can we go back to Oerba now?" Hope rubbed her back comfortingly. Fang, however, had lost all sense of her good-natured humor and looked as livid as ever; she quite obviously agreed with her friend.

"So the Cavalry's here too" observed Sazh, noting the violent increase in the sound of gunfire. Lightning's eyebrows furrowed

"They're here for Orphan" she explained "If it's close to the Fal'Cie Eden, they're probably headed for the heart of the Sanctum."

"Right" grunted Fang "and if they destroy it, bad things are going to happen. So long Cocoon"

"Then we'd better get there before they do" said Snow confidently, his face a gruesome mask. Lightning gripped her sword, tightly; the ground beneath her feet was shaking horribly. Training her gaze as far down the road as possible, she saw it: A Pulse Behemoth was barreling down the road, swiping at any car slow enough to get caught in its way, and drenching the asphalt in slobber. At the rate it was going, everything in front of it was going to get crushed.

Forgetting herself and acting on instinct, Lightning transformed her gunblade and shouted "Let's go!"

Launching herself into traffic, Lightning leapt over car after car towards the creature; her comrades worried voices calling after her. A burning in her leg muscles shot Lightning high into the air, her blade raised.

However, the creature had anticipated her agility and shot forth its truck-like face, catching Lightning's blade on its horn; it missed impaling the l'Cie only by inches. It's neck twitched, sending her flying; shooting out her arm and stabbing the ground with Blazefire, Lightning was on her feet and her weapon raised but the beast was upon her, standing on its hind legs and tearing out its horn (to reveal a serrated sword) in a mess of gore, leaving her no time to react!

It was suddenly side-swiped by a massive ball of flame; Lightning's eyebrows raised in complete surprise as Hope stepped in front of her, surrounded by a curious ring of metallic white orbs. Making a spectacular circular motion with his arms, Hope burst out a massive blast of wind, knocking back the staggered Behemoth several yards. However, the creature was quickly on its feet, growling hungrily and charged for the boy; Hope waved his arm stiffly, and the beads of light abandoned their master in exchange for their enemy. He balled his fingers harshly.

All eight spheres converged on the monster with explosive results; the blast and heat instinctively wrenched Lightning's eyes closed, however momentarily. Forcing her eyes back open, she found an ashen corpse to be the only remainder of the Behemoth.

"Are you alright?" asked Hope, flashing into his rings of healing green. Lightning nodded, grinning with a mixture of awe and pride; the rest of the team joined them, each asking the same questions and showering Hope with compliments. Maybe it was a trick of the eye, but for a moment, Lightning thought she saw Hope's ears turn scarlet when Vanille curled her arms around his neck.

However, she and the silver-haired l'Cie exchanged looks of contracted eyebrows as goose-bumps erupting over Lightning's spine. Something was wrong here, it also did not help that the sounds of the rushing traffic to get as far away as possible from the fighting had subsided into an almost deathly silence.

"_What's that_?"

A thrill of fear and a rush of excitement battled it out in Lightning's stomach as a loud hum began to radiate from below. Something very large and (most likely) heavily armed was on its way! Over the edge of the road, flew an all too familiar fighter that looked like an enormous metal bug. A voice echoed from the speakers:

"I see your power has grown, Mr. Villiers."

Lightning immediately recognized the voice; it belonged to the same man who tried to have her and Hope executed in Palumpolum and one she'd heard many times during her time in the Guardian Corps. _Yaag Rosch_!

"No matter" continued Rosch, his voice blending into its typical drone "We will lay down our lives if that is what it takes to stop you."

"Whoa," said Snow pacifyingly "We're on the same side here! _We came back to stop all of this_!"

The silver-haired Colonel sneered in disgust; clearly, he didn't believe Snow. "Nevertheless, you are l'Cie and we can trust the pawns no more than the Fal'Cie who move them; humanities fate rests in its own hands!"

The fighters arsenal canisters opened and heavy-caliber machineguns primed threateningly; Lightning transformed her gunblade and readied for the attack.

"I don't understand" pleaded Vanille "We want the same thing, why can't we just work together?!"

"These people are so blinded by fear, they can't even imagine it!" shouted Fang over the roar of the fighters engines. Lightning's serious mask broke for a microsecond at the terrifying prospect that they were too late.

Rosch's machine, however, hesitated upon firing and his distracted voice boomed: "THE PRIMARCH'S BEEN…_WHAT_?!" Lightning's eyebrow shot upward when the man spoke again to them: "I'll deal with you later!" The engines thundered at a deafening level and it sped off; the pink-haired l'Cie lowered her weapon cautiously and watched their enemy disappear into behind the buildings. What was going on? What had happened to Raines? Was Cloud somehow involved; her heart sank at the thought.

"We can't give up" snarled Snow spitefully, staring after where the fighter disappeared "No one else knows the truth! AM I RIGHT?"

Lightning nodded encouragingly, "Only we know about the plan to destroy Cocoon and which Fal'Cie's behind it…"

"…Barthandelus."

"Then what are we waiting for? It's time for some payback" said Fang, cracking her knuckles and a grin slashing across her face. Sazh roared with laughter!

"NOW _THAT'S_ WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! Once everything is out in the open, people are going to have to wake up from this nightmare."

Lightning grinned, the teams morale boosted to an all-time high "Let's show them how human we still are!"

The group let out a conjoined roar of approval but a sudden air descended upon them; they had nowhere to go. And there was nothing on either side of them but miles and miles of road.

_Come on Farron_, Lightning racked her brains _what's the next move_?

"Hey what's this?" called Snow; he'd crossed the road and revealed a door behind the service way. The group moved in a combined mass and she, Sazh and Snow worked together to wrench open the heavy blast door.

Inside was an elevator shaft and the lift far below at the bottom.

"Anybody see a switch?" said Sazh sardonically; Lightning felt an uncharacteristic grin cut across her face.

"Lightning, what are you thinking?" asked Vanille, worry all over her voice. Lightning snapped her fingers and her Manadrive kicked in, making her lighter than air.

"Follow my lead" she said quickly before hurling herself into the shaft; landing cat-like on the opposite wall, Lightning pushed off with her right and flipped spectacularly lower onto the side. Her muscles sang as she pushed with both legs and tumbled opposite her current position; performing one final masterful vault, the pink-haired l'Cie skated down a length of pipe before landing softly with a muffled 'Flump' on the grounded elevator. Twisting her neck upwards, Lightning observed the trail of blackish-blue aura that she'd left for her friends to follow.

"Hurry up!" Lightning barked, her voice echoing up the shaft, "Those fields won't last long!"

Moments later, she could hear Snow's grunt and Sazh's bellowing as they leapt down onto the first energy field and were subsequently jostled from one to the next until unceremoniously landing face-down on top of each other (Lightning rolled her eyes). Hope did much better, descending in a controlled manner but collapsed after tripping over his feet; Vanille came down without any dignity, screaming shrilly and smashing into Hope, forcing the boy's face into the metal. Only Fang had managed to land expertly on the ground without any adversity, earning her a concise nod from Lightning.

"Let's move!" she ordered briskly, transforming _Blazefire_ back into his gun-mode and led the march. Moving out of the large metal tube and into a long, dark alley, Lightning's stomach quivered as the air was split with screams and the ground trembled.

Returning to the streets revealed something odd: an entire platoon of soldiers mixed with large numbers of civilians barreled past them as quickly as they were able; turning her head, Lightning saw why! A long-legged turtle, easily the size of a small skyscraper, was pleasantly strolling down the street; it's webbed tail smashing into buildings and showering the soldiers and bystanders with shards of glass and rubble.

Training and instincts took over and Lightning took command; "Snow, Hope: _SMART BOMB_!"

There was a great flash of red and blue and the trio began hurling magic at the creature at full force; Lightning made a great circular motion with her arm and then shooting it towards the beast. Several violent, blue bolts struck the creature at ferocious force; it roared in pain!

Suddenly Fang ran forward, her spear above her head, and she leapt high, higher than naturally possible, into the air. With a twirl, she came crashing down and pierced the turtle's neck with her spear, bringing the massive head down with a thunderous 'BOOM'!

"Now Vanille!" roared the bronze-skinned woman; Vanille charged forward, holding her wand before her. A violent wind kicked up around them, turning icy cold; Lightning steadied herself to keep from falling from a sudden, demanding presence that had descended upon them. There was a great rushing and the turtle ceased to move, gone from this world.

"Good work you two" said Lightning, replacing her weapon into his leathery home.

"No sweat" said Fang, cockily "He was just a baby! If he were fully grown, we'd have a _real_ problem!"

"L'Cie!"

"FREEZE!"

The group turned around to find the platoon of soldiers pointing an assortment of rifles and machineguns at them; the civilians cowering behind them. Lightning stared in concentration, admittedly a little exasperated; that was gratefulness for you: save them from one disaster only to have them stab you in the back! Even if they moved now, they'd be cut down in seconds. That's when she saw it.

Coursing down a phone line as if it were a zip-line was a man, clad in a large coat and his face hidden by a hat. As he came nearer, Lightning could see the glint of sunlight shimmering off the polished steel of a tomahawk axe.

"READY!" roared the platoon leader, the squad's guns trained on the group; Lightning's gaze kept shifting from the thirteen guns pointed at her chest and the man who was sliding closer! The swinging man twisted his tomahawk and dropped like a stone to the earth; however, the man and his twin axes were at the ready and came down on the two farthest left, planting both blades firmly in their necks. The six l'Cie stared.

Moving with the speed of a Chocobo, the man twisted on his knee and hooked the next soldier's ankle with his left, bringing him crashing to the ground. Without hesitation or loss of momentum, he brought the same violently down on the soldier's collarbone; blood geysered into the air. Catching the next stupefied PSICOM warrior unawares, he jabbed the top of his right deep into his gut, swung upwards on a twist and caught the man in the chin; dragging the heavily armored soldier over his shoulder and hurtling him onto his back he drove his left deep into the chest cavity causing instant death and showering the man in crimson.

The remainder of the platoon was beginning to regain command of themselves and raised their weapons. The first of them of charged; sidestepping, the man easily dodged, though not before shoving his tomahawk into the soldier's spinal cord and then tossing him to the ground. Leaning on his left and swinging his right, he chopped heavily and buried four-inches of steel into the next soldier's skull; before releasing the axe, he pulled the corpse in front of him just as the roar of a machine gun barraged the assailant with bullets. Every shot hit black armor instead of snowy flesh; the man reared back his arm and let fly one of his axes, hitting the shooter square between the eyes. Freeing his axe from the skull, he threw himself onto his shoulder and pulled into a spectacular roll; pulling upright, he quickly jammed his remaining tomahawk deep into the spine of a shooter who was preparing to unload into the man's head. He dropped to the ground dead as a doornail.

Lightning watched with a mixture of horror and impression; who was this guy? Did he realize that he was aiding six Pulse l'Cie? Whether or not he knew, one question remained prevalent in her mind: why was he helping them? However, she knew that if the soldier before her squeezed his trigger, none of her questions would get answered; her body reacted, drawing _Blazefire_ and fired a single shot that hit the main in the back of the knee. Lightning noticed the man regain both of his tomahawks and as silent as a wraith, went back on the offensive.

Thrusting the tip of his right inward, he knocked the pained soldier's gun away and swung powerfully with his left; Vanille screamed as the black-clad man's head rolled off his shoulders and bounced off the ground. Moving like a flash, he moved over to the next, who had swung the butt of his gun at the man's head; the man caught the rifle mid-swing and buried the left axe into the side of his torso. The man twisted quickly and his right caught the side of the soldier's head. The PSICOM officer was dead before he hit the ground. Charging in a serpentine pattern, avoiding the hail of gunfire aimed at him; shooting out his left axe, he knocked the gun aside (whose final rounds betrayed a comrade) and he drove his right deep into the shoulder before smashing his knee into his enemy's face, knocking him away. The man turned to the last remaining soldier, who was standing shakily holding a knife and his gun. As the soldier raised his rifle the man charged, swinging widely with the right and blood burst violently from a newly opened throat; as the soldier hit the ground on his stomach, the blood-soaked man delivered the final coup de grace with a single, concise chop to the back of the head.

The six of them stared, thunderstruck, at the bloody man, who had returned to his feet, hung his gory tomahawks on his belt before speaking into a communicator out of a pocket of his massive blood-stained coat.

"Alright listen up:" he barked, his voice aged but radiating with authority "Squads Delta and Foxtrot secure these civs, get them someplace safe! Squads Beta and Gamma, to the frontlines: DEFEND THIS POSITION! Squad Alpha, get on cutting the enemies communication lines, DO NOT LET THEM GET REINFORCEMENTS HERE! DO YOU COPY?!"

A loud, conjoined "SIR" burst from the device before becoming silent again; the man turned to face the l'Cie and Lightning dropped her weapon in surprise!

"Farron" said the calm voice of the former Captain of the Bodhum Regiment "You have thirty seconds to explain to me why I am fighting in an invasion, instead of enjoying my retirement with my wife."

"C-Captain Matsuki," said Lightning breathlessly, a warm smile cutting her face at the sight of the old grin that was forming under the new mustache. Fang stepped forward, her hands on her hips

"Captain Ian Matsuki? The Behemoth of Bodhum?"

Matsuki laughed warmly, "I see my reputation precedes me."

"Why did you help us?!"

Lightning restrained herself from hitting the bronze-skinned Oerban for her rudeness; the Captain's eyebrows furrowed slightly, though his smile never faltered.

"You might be l'Cie" he said speaking directly to Lightning "but you're one of us, and I protect my own!"

Lightning smiled even greater and snapped off a crisp salute "Thank you sir."

A team of cream and gold Guardian Corps ran beside their captain; two of the group removed their visors, smiling widely.

"Hi Sergeant Farron!" waved Private Benoit, Lightning wave absentmindedly back. Seeing her, the Captain and even the sandy-haired O'Bannon gave her such nostalgic feelings, however she couldn't help but feel the reunion felt…incomplete.

"Where's Private McGregor?" she inquired looking for the brunette; Benoit and O'Bannon exchanged uncomfortable looks.

"Let's just say, she made her choice…"

"Alright that's enough kiss-and-makeup" barked Matsuki "You have your orders, now get these civs out of here!"

The group, led by O'Bannon, trailed away shunting away the civilians with little effort; the Captain turned back to them.

"Captain, what's the SitRep?" Lightning inquired doing her best to keep her composure.

Matsuki's grin died immediately and his face became a solemn mask "Apart from the obvious? Well we've been receiving reports that PSICOM and Home-guard forces have turned on each other."

"Why?" asked Sazh "What good is fighting each other when the whole city's under siege?"

"That's more politics than military, son" replied Matsuki "but the main reason is the assassination of Primarch Raines."

"_WHAT_?!" The group stared in utter disbelief; but to Lightning it suddenly became very clear. The explosion at Sanctum HQ and Rosch's sudden disappearance…her thoughts suddenly went to Cloud.

"If I were you" said the Captain "I'd use the military's distraction to your advantage: the Sanctum is open for infiltration! You could probably use the front door if you wanted."

"Getting a bit excited there, aren't you" said Fang a grin on her face but her arms crossed "Six Pulse l'Cie walk in through the front door of Cocoon's government? You have to admit: it would be a little conspicuous."

Matsuki placed his hands on his hips and snorted through his nostrils "_That's how Cloud did it_."

Once again the group stood in complete shock; Lightning's heart, however, fluttered and a great smile ripped across her face.

"_Cloud is here_?!"

Snow and Hope let out roars of excitement; Vanille looked excitedly to Lightning while Fang looked downright impressed. Sazh chortled loudly

"Damn, that boy knows how to get around!"

"He told us everything…"

Lightning did not respond, shame and embarrassment tying her tongue in a tight knot; the others shifted uncomfortably.

"…we know about the weapon, Farron" the Captain finished; Lightning's throat unclenched very quickly but she hid her surprise.

"Weapon?" asked Snow incredulously "_What weapon_? There's no-"

A heated pain surged into Lightning's elbow as she nudged him in the ribs and making the tall l'Cie fall into a winded silence.

"Er…there's no…_need_ to bring that up here Cap" Lightning lied, seeing Matsuki's eyebrows raise and pointed her chin towards straggling civilians (several of whom were staring at them and had moved closer to listen). There was a tense moment as the old Captain looked her over analytically, Lightning held her breath but kept her ground, when his gaze finally loosened and he nodded.

"Smart, don't want to start a panic" he replied though he gave Lightning a momentary sharp look; Lightning looked him square in the eye, but an unnerving chill crept down her spine. The radio on Matsuki's belt beeped; the captain scooped it up and held it to his mouth "Matsuki!"

"_Captain_" cried a frightened voice on the other end "_The armies of Pulse are continuing to advance_! _We've lost half of Gamma squadron and Beta is barely able to hold off the Home-guard forces_…_requesting back_-_ARGH_!" the line went staticky and Vanille let out a loud gasp.

"It's time we went our separate ways Farron" barked Matsuki, slamming the little device onto the ground. "Now listen up: Alpha has reported a clear passage through Leviathan's Plaza. I trust you know how to get there?"

Lightning nodded; an action the Captain returned.

"LET'S MOVE OUT!" he shouted; his soldiers marched off in the direction the l'Cie had just arrived from while Snow led the others in the opposite direction. Before Lightning could leave a gentle hand gripped her shoulder.

"Take care of yourself Lightning" said Matsuki "Something's not right, I can feel it in my gut. We've had _no contact_ with Cloud since he went into the Sanctum, which means he's either been capture or worse. Just watch your back, okay?"

Lightning's throat tightened but she tilted her neck downward "Yes sir, you too." The captain flashed his signature grin (which seemed to steady her slightly) before turning and taking off at a speed unbelievable for a man his age.

The pink-haired l'Cie turned quickly to rejoin the others, vaguely aware of Snow's complaints that Lightning had possibly broken one of his ribs. Her thoughts remained focused on matters of greater importance: the situation was bad enough as it was, Guardian Corps and PSICOM turning on each other, the Pulse invasion and now allies very vanishing?

Lightning clutched the pendant around her neck "Cloud…_please_, just be safe."

"Hey" said a voice that pulled her out of her thoughts; she had fallen very far behind, but Hope had hung back. "Don't worry, Cloud's gotten out of much worse…_with us_!" The boy's words offered little reassurance but Lightning swallowed her pride and gave him a nod and weak smile; gripping his shoulder gratefully the duo moved quickly to catch up with the others.

Their trek through Eden resumed in fullest fervor; only this time, they had left behind the sanctity of silent roads and simple blockades for straight up war! The air was filled with screams of terror and battle roars, and Lightning's nostrils filled with the horrible combination of blood and gunpowder. However, pushing fear into the back of her brain, Lightning led her allies past the chaos; down a collapsed bridge and around a sea of corpses until the six l'Cie had entered through a large metal gate that opened with the hiss of compressed air.

Continuing onwards, the group entered into a large park: the grass greener than green and vines slithering around large metal archways; all the while, large Tyrant-class war mecha battled furiously with even larger Cie'th.

Sazh tapped Lightning's shoulder, and she followed his gestured towards a makeshift creek just below them. Nodding, the pink-haired l'Cie vaulted over the bridge and landed with a soft 'splash'. She led the way, sloshing through the murky water, enduring the sounds of metal crunching on crystal; peering around some hedging, she saw it: the gate that would take them directly to the Sanctum tower!

Putting up three of her fingers and bringing each one down into a concise fist, the two groups ran fast. Pumping her legs, sweat trickling down her brow, Lightning came to a halt after smashing her fist onto the opening mechanism. The door made no movement; she slammed the mechanism again and achieved the same result. She sighed in annoyance, they'd have to find another way.

"There's no time for that!" hissed Snow, reading Lightning's expression. However, the gate wiggled and open with a hiss; but then, it began to emit a shrill, torturous whine. Where four of their number shot their hands over their ears, Lightning raised her gunblade backed by Sazh and his menacing pistols.

Two hover-craft shot out from the newly opened gate, blaring heavy machinegun fire and dropping everything stupid enough to move in front of it.

"Gate got you beat? _Hero_?"

"Pretty lame!"

The voices cut over the heavy weaponry; Snow's eyebrows contracted momentarily but his face lit up and he let out a roaring laugh! Lightning lowered her weapon, immediately registering those voices…the childish and gleeful personalities of NORA.

"Hey Snow! Where you been?" called the voice of the mousy-blonde-haired boy as he and the others landed. Lightning quickly noticed that Snow's blue-haired buddy wore a look of deep solemnity and she could only guess what was coming next.

"So Snow" he began slowly "You're a Pulse l'Cie now, huh?"

Snow's smile faded into a look of great shame and he held up his arm to flash them his brand; all four of them flinched. "Yeah…Good times."

"Then why didn't you tell us? Why _the hell_ didn't you come and find us?" the boy's accusatory words seemed to fail the situation as a great, playful grin ripped his face apart.

"Yeah" said the olive-skinned Lebreau, "We've been waiting! Us and the rest of the Purge fugitives."

Lightning felt her heart lift! They weren't dead! All of the Bodhum citizens were still alive and kicking! The dark-skinned man with flaming red-hair stepped forward, flexing his muscles instinctively.

"But damn," he whistled lowly "Those Pulse Fal'Cie sure know how to pick 'em!"

"Yeah" said Lightning calmly, replacing her weapon "Out of all of the idiots in the word, they choose _this_ one!"

"Hey, Hey, Hey! Now wait just a minute here!" said Snow over the laughter that had enveloped his pose. His chest swelled pompously "_I_ am your fearless leader! You're not supposed to laugh at the boss!"

Another roaring BOOM splintered the air and the group fell silently immediately; Lightning trained her focuses back…they needed to keep going!

"Just like old times, eh boss?" she heard Gadot say to Snow in a voice no louder than a whisper.

"Don't worry" said Lebreau "We'll take care of these civilians, and with Captain Matsuki leading the charge, I'm positive we'll all get out of this alive."

"You concentrate on saving Cocoon!"

"We all will! Together!"

Hope's voice had gotten thrown into the mixture; Lightning felt like a big sister after watching him look as though he'd bitten off more than he could chew and blush sheepishly at the astonished faces around him. Snow reassuringly gripped his shoulder flashed him his old, goofy grin. As the four of Snow's gang remounted their rides, he called out over the deafening hum

"What's our motto?"

The four exchanged looks and, before taking off, bellowed back:

"FAL'CIE ARE NO MATCH FOR NORA!"

The hovercraft raced away at top speed, their riders cheering loudly; Lightning watched as Snow dragged his arm across his eyes at his refusal to respond. She didn't say anything to him but she did appreciate his strength to keep focused on their goal though she did thump him lightly on the shoulder. To which, the tall, blond l'Cie gave her another dorky grin.

As the metal gate sealed shut behind them and the group was introduced a new and highly unnerving silence.

"What happened?" asked Hope, looking unsettled "Why'd it get so quiet?"

"Smells like a trap to me!" hissed Fang, her eyes scanning the surrounding buildings. Lightning, however, raised a fist into the air and she felt eyes bore into her back; she noticed a rancid scent in the air, a mixture of fire, fuel and excrement. Having no idea what could have created such a smell, taking hold of her holstered weapon, she charged forward. Leading them down a flight of concrete stairs and out onto the road, they found their way blocked by out-and-out war!

PSICOM and Home-Guard were tackling Pulse mech's (and as soon as they had felled one, they'd turn their weapons on each other) and prides of Behemoths were leveling the field of anything unfortunate enough to get caught in their way; and a, seemingly, limitless sea of this chaos stood in between the l'Cie and their target.

"What's the plan Light?" asked Snow, his voice strong and confident but his face a mask of terror. Lightning turned back to them to break the news that there was only one plan:

"_Run like hell_."

"If that's the case, might I suggest one of these?" Vanille dove into the pouch beneath her fur-skirt and pulled out one of the vials filled with blood-red elixir. "Trust me" she said to unsure faces "They're not just one trick Cactaurs." Vanille pulled the stopper from the vial, put it to her lips and drank a healthy draught before passing it to Fang; the bronze-skinned woman reciprocated the action and finally offered the bottle to Lightning.

Lightning took it cautiously, the odor emanating from it still as terrible as it was in Oerba, but without any alternative she put it to her lips and drank. It was like drinking syrup: incredibly thick and sweet to a rotten toothed level. However, it took no time at all before she noticed a strange smell began to radiate from her skin; a strange combination of isopropyl and grass. Turning back to the group, Lightning witnessed the three men examining the smell radiating from their own bodies; Fang, however, took point

"_Now_, we run like hell!"

Lightning's instincts reached for her weapon as she ran but training began to take over again and she easily kept the hard trot pace that Fang was moving at. Airships were dropping soldiers and weapon canisters like rain, bullets hazed the bridge in a fiery mist; sweat poured down Lightning's face and exhaustion ran throughout her legs as she weaved in and around the carnage. But to her very great surprise, Lightning noticed that no matter how close she came to the soldiers or Pulse beast, they seemed to completely ignore her…

Despite the handiness of the Oerban Elixir, it did not set Lightning's mind at ease; several times she'd too close to a Behemoth that she could inhale it's intense breath and she could tell that it sensed her there though it could not see or smell her. There was no doubt in her mind that the Battle Machines could tell that they were there but Lightning was in no way concerned as the giant mech's were easily able to be outrun. Charging out of the chaos of the war-torn avenue and into the Sanctum's perimeter defenses, Lightning was blindsided once again by that odd smell.

Only, the rancid scent wasn't the only oddity facing down the l'Cie; before them was at least forty PSICOM guards lay on the ground, dead, their weapons in heaps on the destroyed asphalt. The second belonged to the smell in the air; Sazh tapped Lightning's shoulder and pointed towards the remains of a blackened and mangled machine, engorged in a massive hole in the ground and billowed jet black smoke; Lightning could only ponder at what could have possibly wreaked such carnage.

The final oddity: was that misting across the air were tiny, shimmering flakes that glinted in the sunlight.

"What is this stuff?" asked Vanille, her arms out and furiously trying to catch on of the flakes, though it masterfully eluded her. Lightning did not answer but held out her own hand, and a single one landed obediently and silently in her hand; it was light as air but held a sturdiness reminiscent of…

"Some sort of crystal?" offered Fang, observing the snow with her keen eye. Sazh face twisted into one of utter disdain

"I don't like this," he said "Is Cocoon falling apart already?"

"Could be," replied Hope calmly, a finger to his chin "Maybe Orphan's having trouble holding things together with all of this fighting going on?"

_The Clamor of this conflict rouses the Maker_!

The Cold, venomous voice came from nowhere and caused the entire group to jump. The pilot drew his pistols and fired several shots into the sky

"Yeah? Well, we're going to stop this ruckus soon enough!" he shouted back; however, a powerful 'whoosh' collapsed the man onto his rump as the elderly disguise of Barthandelus materialized before them. Lightning's eyebrows narrowed both in rage and confusion, taking note of the heavily bandaged face before her.

"Can you stop the Cavalry's charge?" questioned Barthandelus darkly "Filled with righteousness, they will slaughter Orphan in the name of freedom. You're _only_ recourse will be to deliver them from death: swift and certain."

"No!" spat Lightning, doing her best to keep her cool "Unlike you, they'll listen to reason!" The Fal'Cie chortled evilly.

"We will see about that. I shall savor the demise of Cocoon from atop the highest seat in all of Eden; you too should hurry to the heart of our grand capital." As he turned to leave, he cocked his neck and added nastily: "Your loved ones miss you so."

Impatience and recklessness seizing control, Lightning took hold of her gunblade but she halted as Vanille charged in front of her.

"Wait!" she called and Barthandelus froze, turning slightly "Tell us: _where is Cloud_?"

Lightning held her breath in anticipation though her eyebrows furrowed heavily when the old man turned and was cackling evilly.

"And what makes you believe that I know anything about that?"

Lightning snapped out her weapon and pointed _Blazefire's_ blade threateningly at the old man.

"Answer the question!" She bellowed; when he didn't respond she shouted again "I promise if you've harmed a single hair…"

"You so readily place blame" sneered the Fal'Cie "When in troth, the one you should be pointing fingers at, is yourself! _As I recall_: it was _you_ who sent Cloud Strife on this suicide mission to rescue your sister and your son" he said glaring at Sazh.

"He did it to help us" shot Sazh coldly "Cloud didn't have to do this…"

"And yet" interrupted Barthandelus, this time looking Lightning, malevolently, in the eyes "_You_ made no attempt to stop him; One life in exchange for two others, as it were. _And you claim to love him_" he added nastily, "I can promise you this: whatever fate befalls him today, it will be one that _you_ have condemned him to!

He'd touched a nerve; transforming _Blazefire_ and pointing it blindly at the insane old man, she squeezed the trigger. Fire burped from his business end; however, the bullets missed as Barthandelus vanished in a bright flash. Wrenching her eyes back open, Lightning watched as he raced to the top of the spire like a tiny shooting star. His hateful voice ringing across the sky

_Come l'Cie_, _fulfill your destiny_!

And as quickly as he'd come, he was gone; Lightning stood there, staring after him, gripping her weapon tightly and a tight knot in his stomach. What did he mean? She wouldn't trade Cloud for her sister; then again, she did agree to send him into the lion's den…

"_NO_!" came a sharp voice in her head "_Snap out of it_! _Barthandelus is lying like he always is_! _You didn't condemn Cloud_…" the voice stopped there and Lightning's heart sank at the thought. Lying or not, Barthandelus was inevitably right: if Cloud was in trouble, then it _was_ entirely her fault.

The ground shook violently, snapping Lightning out of her melancholic thoughts. A leg the size of a skyscraper came crashing down a few yards away; following it upwards, the pink haired warrior felt the blood drain from her face and all of her courage disappear. It was another dinosaur-like turtle, only this one was covered in sharp, ivory tusks and trumping the other in size tenfold. However, it did not seem to notice them but let out an earsplitting, mournful roar as it strolled down the street, felling buildings as it went. A sudden pressure gripped Lightning's shoulder; Fang had brought her out of her fear driven stupor.

"What is that" she choked as the roar deafened her again.

"_That_" said Fang a mixture of excitement and terror in her voice "Is a problem! I think it wise that we make our exit before it realizes we killed its baby!"

Without a second thought, Lightning took off a top speed, charged up the stairs into the entrance and hurried her friends into the building, through a destroyed glass door. Leading the way down the marble hallway and up the winding tower of stairs, Lightning could feel her legs cry out in exhaustion though she pushed bravely onward. Combining what was left of her strength with Snow, Lightning opened a damaged but heavy wooden door, virtually drop-kicking it to contend with the smash of Snow's boots.

They entered into a massive, garden, the flowers individual beauty radically intensified by the light crystal rain. And sitting at the opposite end, was the giant elevator that would take them to where they needed to go.

"So this is the heart of Cocoon" said Fang, her arms crossed. Vanille uttered words of equal impression.

"That's where Eden sits" explained Hope, pointing to the elevator "Controlling all of the other Cocoon Fal'Cie. It's also where we'll find Orphan" his voiced turned hard "The battery that keeps Eden running."

"Good to know" said Snow seriously "So what's the plan?"

"Your usual plan" said Lightning, gazing with intense dislike at the complex "Charge in through the front door!"

"Th-The Front-?" gasped Sazh incredulously "Hey-what're you-_Where are you going_?"

Lightning had turned to move, but her focus was quickly stolen by the sight in front of her: battle mech's, Behemoths and endless soldiers, lay on the ground either dead or unconscious.

Snow moved passed her, kicked the down beast to make sure it was dead before inspecting the dormant machines closely. Suddenly a wide smile lit up his face "I don't know about you guys but I think Barthandelus was full of crap this time! I know only one guy with a weapon that could leave something like this behind!" He revealed to the group a violent and deep slash that penetrated far into the metal frame. Lightning breathed a reassuring breath, but couldn't help but feel that something was still amiss.

"_Cloud_, Please, _be okay_!"

Snow took point, and led the group down the path way and towards the central complex (though he stopped every now and then to kick a PSICOM soldier in the ribs).

"We're going to make it!" he called back; he should have kept his mouth shut!

No sooner had he spoken, Lightning could hear the thrum of engines coming from the sky. The glass roof above them shattered; the party froze, taking cover from the raining shards of death. Turning her eyes back to the newest threat, Lightning found the familiar sight of Rosch's personal battle mech

"He _really_ wants us dead!" shrieked Fang

"_Oh no_!"

Lightning wheeled around at Vanille's outcry; the courtyard pathways that had been littered with soldier's, dead or alive, was now filling with bright flashes of light. After each burst there would be a hungry cry and a struggled movement until massive crystalline creatures began their rise.

Cie'th!

Lightning couldn't belief this: they'd simply transformed! No mission, no warning…their lives had ended in that single flash of light. Snow had pressed his back to hers, reminding her of the imminent threat from behind. _Now what_?

"Fang" she hissed "Can you, Sazh and Vanille hold off them off?"

"Only if you and those two can ensure us a clear way out of here!"

Lightning nodded, drawing and transforming her weapon, and turned to Hope and Snow.

"_SMART BOMB_!"

With a brilliant flash of blue and white rings, Lightning drained the intense heat from her chest and her blade burst into flames; she ran. Slamming on the brakes and shooting forth her arm, she jabbed the tip of her sword into the metal, with explosive results. Pushing into a spiraling jump, she left behind a trail of fire across the fighter's body. Before hitting the ground she transitioned into a powerful downward attack, another mighty roar ripping across metal and cutting through the air.

However, the attack exposed the midriff and revealed a cannon that could have done Barthandelus proud. It suddenly sparked and crackled with electricity as a monstrous blue heat began to radiate from it, its roar deafening her.

Tossing herself onto the ground, she was in time to avoid the massive blue wave, singeing a few stray hairs. As the intensity began to die, she turned to her comrades: Hope had been smart enough to quickly transition into one of his other magic-paradigms and had covered himself and Snow in a protective bubble. Snow looked Lightning dead in the face, the ghost of his usual grin on his face and the palm of his right hand radiated with a golden aura. Rolling her eyes with a mixture of exasperation and amusement, Lightning gave him the 'go-ahead' with a jerk of her neck.

Snow smiled toothily and yelled loudly:

"_HERO'S CHARGE_!"

A rainbow of rings overtook Lightning's sight, with her own green, Hope's purple and Snow's red. Holding out her arm and allowing her power to heal Snow as he readied himself and Hope imbuing his power onto the tallest l'Cie, Lightning watched as he charged. Rosch's fighter ejected several missiles that shot after the rushing man; dodging with a nimbleness unbelievable for a man his size, Snow spun into a mighty roundhouse and sending the fighter into an uncontrolled spin. With a powerful leap and, rearing back a glowing fist, Snow unleashed the fury of his powers with an atomic punch! Both of them fell back to the ground, but only Snow got back up, pumping his fists in his favorite victory dance.

The canopy to the fighter smashed open and tossed to the ground the silver-haired man, his leather suit torn and his face bloody. Rosch pushed himself onto his knees, his face a mask of anguish and terror, and reached for the gun concealed at his waist. But because Lightning was uninjured and sit rearing to go, she'd transformed _Blazefire_ again and fired a warning shot. The PSICOM Director froze.

"Rosch, it's over" said Lightning matter-of-factly.

"What of my soldiers?" he wailed hysterically, spitting blood from his lips. There was a massive 'HIYA' from behind and the pink-haired warrior had the sneaking suspicion that Fang had answered his question.

"I see…"

"Why are you doing this Rosch?" inquired Snow bitingly "Haven't you done enough?"

The man's eyes widened in terror as he leaned back on his fallen mech; "Enough" he scoffed "Under Fal'Cie orders, I've orchestrated _mass_ murder! All to answer the fears of a panicked populace…for a people so _dependent_ on the Fal'Cie, it was the only solution I could offer! _Even if that solution was a farce_!"

Lightning couldn't help the feelings of pity mix with the already present disgust, but pity was becoming ever more dominant as she noticed the man's eyes become wet.

"Wait a second" said Hope incredulously "Then, _you knew_ the Fal'Cie were using us?!"

"I-I believed their rule was best for Cocoon's present and future prosperity" the man stammered, tears falling freely now "But it-it seems I misjudged their benevolence-" he fell into a momentary coughing spell in which he hacked and hiccupped and a glop of thick crimson fell from his mouth and onto the floor. "If this is my punishment, I accept it."

"So, you're just going to let everything go to hell, is that it?" spat Lightning; this was a pathetic end for Colonel Yaag Rosch of PSICOM. He'd taught Lightning when she was in the academy, known for his brilliance and flair, and was tough as nails…to see him sink so low was something she couldn't bear to see.

Rosch stared at her in amazement, his breathing ragged, but a weak smile tugged at the edges of his mouth.

"You're right" he said weakly "One thing remains." The man pushed himself shakily onto his feet and pulled something from his pocket. Snow jerked forward but Lightning barred his way with her arm.

"Attention all PSICOM and Guardian Corps. Units! This is…this is PSICOM Director Rosch" he spoke into the communicator "Suspend l'Cie operations…I repeat, sus-pend l'Cie operations. All units should focus their attention on aiding Captain Ian Matsuki in his efforts to evacuate the civilian population. I do not issue this order as an absolute: you are free to make the choice."

His arm fell limply to his side and he collapsed onto his knees. Lightning resisted every urge in her body that screamed at her to help him as solid rivers of blood began to leak from his mouth.

"G-go!" he choked out, bubbles frothing in his mouth "You're here to save Cocoon, aren't you? Or-or was that a f-farce as well?"

Lightning made her face stony, it was all she could do to keep herself from losing it completely; she called Fang and the others in a hasty retreat and Hope led the charge towards the central complex. Lightning dawdled momentarily as Rosch fell onto his rear his face like milk from blood loss.

"Stay alive" she said, her voice imploring and warningly "We'll see you when it's over!"

Rosch smiled softly as he reached inside his coat; he nodded half-heartedly. Lightning knew that he didn't believe her, that he was merely humoring her in his own condescending way; but then, she reasoned, it was better for him…to die as himself and not a tool.

Racing off to catch up with the others, she came to a rest inside as Snow and Sazh closed the metal doors with a loud 'DOOM'. The inside of the room was the same as the rest of the building, completely marble and smelling of disinfectant, but with the minor difference of a thin, hexagonal elevator.

Pushing in the crank mechanism, the doors opened with the hiss of compressed air; the six of them crammed inside the extraordinarily tiny space. That was when Lightning heard the mass growls from outside…the Cie'th were coming for them! The world trembled violently and a bright flash of orange shone from behind the stained glass windows. Hope moved to exit but Fang caught him before he leave and the elevator shut, beginning its descent.

Lightning was left in a state of shock! Amodar, Nabaat, Raines and now Rosch…they'd all died because they'd been little more than cheap pawns of the Fal'Cie. Shock quickly turned to anger as her focus became clear.

It was time to end this!

**Finally, this one is over! OMG, this chapter in its entirety was a monster (nowhere near what Chapter 7 was but let's keep that **_**particular**_** monkey off my back). I think I lost it towards the end so please let me know if you guys see anything. Hope you all like it and don't forget those reviews please.**


	17. Chapter 13 part 1

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

The elevator was slowing; the descent into Eden's dominion had taken, in Lightning's opinion, an eternity and even worse with a compact box full of people. It continued its gradual fall until it came to a gentle halt; the doors sliding open soundlessly.

Lightning stepped out first, her boots slipping and sliding across the smooth, alabaster floors; they'd arrived in some kind of cathedral. A long, tall staircase connected the lower level to a higher dais. Drawn towards the hypnotic beauty of the ambient light shining through the multi-colored stained glass, Lightning led the way up the stairs. The upper floor was revealed to be a sanctuary, and a primeval one at that. A single stone archway stood high above the ring of pillars before it; however, ensconced in the circle, was an ornately carved altar, the phrase _Knowledge speaks, Wisdom listens _etched into it. However, the pink-haired warrior's stomach lurched as she noticed something dried and eerie stained atop the altar's face.

"Where's the Calvary?" asked Vanille, craning her neck around the sanctuary; Lightning's gaze sharpened at the girls observation that the six of them were completely alone. Her eyes whipped from one side to the other…up and down… then behind; her training kicked back into effect full throttle; this was something she was used to in practice, though it was not very pleasant. It felt like an ambush.

"If they made it this far we'll see them soon enough" said Fang sardonically.

"Whoa" cried Hope; Lightning wheeled as she felt the boy jump. A single, ambling Cie'th limped out from a shady corner; it's snowy, glass-like body shimmering in the near darkness. Vanille gasped loudly, drawing Light's gaze; two more of the crystalline monsters were shuffling slowly from behind the arch way.

"No…" gasped Snow "Not them too! They're all Cie'th!"

The six l'Cie turned back-to-back as the room suddenly began to overflow with the monstrous zombies; Lightning stared in horror behind furrowed eyebrows. How could so many of them hide in such an empty and did all of them spontaneously transform like before?

There was a flash of blinding light and the 'tinkle' of shattering glass and then everything became still again. Pulling down her shields and wrenching open her eyes, Lightning found the army of Cie'th to have vanished and also that she was no longer standing in the ambient cathedral. Where she was she could not explain, but she couldn't tear her eyes from what she saw. This new 'room was red as blood, from unlimited sky to non-existent earth. The ground underneath her boots remained an immobile absurdity as its new neighbors would fly past at break-neck speeds and vanish into a purplish-black portal, to then reappear on the other side of the room, only to begin its never ending fall all over again. Lightning gulped, the realization crashing over her:

They had arrived…_this_, was Orphan's Cradle.

"This is it" said Lightning slowly, summing up as much courage as she could; the group turned to face her, Fang and Snow looking solemn but Sazh and kids all looked fearful. "A lot of dreams died to get us here, and we can't let it be for nothing. It's not just _our_ future we're fighting for, so we'll do it for everyone, the Fal'Cie rule ends here!"

Fang stared at Lightning appraisingly before her face softened an she genuinely smiled; Vanille and Hope exchanged morale lifting grins. Snow turned his back to her, put a hand to his mouth and shouted, his voice echoing across the emptiness:

"DYSLEY! WE'RE COMING FOR YOU!"

Lightning felt the chills creep down her spine as his voice broke the stillness but she turned as that more questions plagued her mind. _What's the next move Farron_, _where do we go from here_? And the peskiest of all: _Where was Cloud_? If he had gotten to here first and was, in fact, here, then where was he? Staring around the vast emptiness, Lightning found no sign of the spikey-haired man; clutching the jagged, silver necklace, Lightning made a soundless prayer for his safety.

Sazh tapped Lightning's shoulder, bringing her out of her meditation; suspended high in the air were a pair of pristine, marble statues. Both were the same: a woman with snowy skin, faces shrouded in hooded cloaks, the right in jet black and the other in pallid white. A pair of large halos hung airily over their heads and each wielding a golden wand; their eyes were hidden by their hoods but Lightning could felt them gazing at them cold, x-raying analysis.

Fang stepped forward and barked "Well? What _surprises_ have you in store for us now?!"

However, the statues made no response; the bronze-skinned woman growled in frustration.

Vanille stepped forward to take a try "Please, say something?" Again the women made no response. Lightning turned her back to them, her patience wearing thin.

"Show us the way" Hope's voice came calmly and sagely; there was a whoosh and Lightning wheeled around. The two women had risen in a close spiral, before landing placidly behind them, revealing two blood red pathways.

"How did you do that?" asked Sazh, impression clear across his face. Hope pointed towards the lone altar and recited:

"_Knowledge speaks_, _Wisdom listens_."

Lightning gave him an approving smile and then turned back to face the newest challenge.

"So guys…" said Snow, scratching his head "Which way we going?"

Lightning could feel all ten pairs of eyes on her back; an image of the collapsed, Pulsian tower flashed through her mind.

"We split up" she said finally, unsheathing her weapon "Fang, you lead Sazh and Vanille that way" she pointed in the way of the white cloaked woman before jabbing her thumb over her shoulder towards her black cloaked counterpart "Hope, Snow and I will go _that_ way."

"Everyone be careful" said Hope; the tone of his voice sent shivers down Lightning's spine. "I know everyone here can sense it: something's not right about this place, so let's all watch each other's backs."

"Well said kid" said Fang clapping him on the shoulder, before staring Lightning square in the eyes, nodding and then setting off down the opposite path. Sazh and Vanille followed promptly.

Lightning gestured to her two male comrades and they too set out. The road they had chosen was not long, maybe only a few yards long, as Lightning could see that it led to a dead end on a pearly, circular platform.

"Whoa!" cried Hope; the second the trio had set foot on it, the platform broke away from the path and carried them away towards the southern portal. A breeze had whipped up around her as they finally anchored at another path, this one seemingly formed from pipes; a sharp, loud 'BOOM' rang out like a cannon across the wide area. Wheeling around, the pink-haired l'Cie stared in terror as gunshots and battle cries echoed from the opposite end of the room…exactly where she'd sent Fang and the others.

"We've got to go back!" bawled Snow to which Lightning nodded; they moved to the opposite side of the platform but it remained solidly connected to their pathway. Lightning did not want to accept that she'd have to, for now, abandon her friends but forcing herself to be pragmatic she realized that Fang would not have wanted her to. She could lead them just as well as Lightning could and they could not hope to reach them. They were on their own.

She turned back to her friends, the verdict in her eyes; the two of them looked at her with pained, almost mutinous, looks but nodded and stepped aside, opening the way for her to take point. With a deep breath, Lightning pushed off into a powerful run; she followed the jagged path, never knowing where it would lead but taking care to slow down and alert the two behind her that the path would narrow to the point of traipsing a single, rickety pipe.

"_What is going on_?" thought Lightning, a numbing sensation prickling at her brain; for a moment she thought she saw the flicker of her father's sickly and her mother's tear-stained faces. Was this place slowly driving her mad?

A short, aghast shriek sounded loudly from behind, Lightning (almost falling over the edge in surprise) turned quickly to find Hope, his face a mask of surprise and horror. He was looking down; but, upon closer inspection, Lightning found nothing except a lower level though Hope remained transfixed.

"What are you doing?!" shouted the pink-haired warrior as the boy bent his knees and leapt; the fall was not far, as he landed on his feet and raced off at top speed. Ignoring the stomach abandoning sensation of the drop, Lightning and Snow followed him but they struggled to keep up with his surprising speed. Racing down steep hills and over small gaps in the floor, they found the boy: only something was wrong. He spoke in a mumble that they could not hear, his arms outstretched towards some invisible phantom and he dangerously neared the edge of the platform.

With a rush of speed and a flash of beige, Snow bolted past Lightning, curled his arms around Hope's waist and dragged him away. He struggled, kicking and crying as strongly as he could but Snow would not budge; running up to him and dropping to her knees Lightning saw his face. His features were the same mask of anguish as before but his reddening eyes were wet and wide, but also glassy and unfocused, he looked quite demented.

"Hope" she said calmly, cupping his face in her hands, causing his thrashing to cease "We're here with you. It's okay, you're gonna be just fine."

Lightning was relieved to see her words taking effect, as he began to alleviate the tension in his muscles and his green eyes returning to normal.

"You're alright buddy" said Snow soothingly; Hope's shoulders began to tremble

"No…" he said, his voice cracked and sounding as though he were fighting tears "…I-I saw my mom. She said to-_hiccup_-follow her, that I could make up for not being able to save her…she kept-_hiccup_-saying 'Join me…come with me'." The boy fell silent and broke down.

"_What the hell_ kind of place is this?" asked Snow, giving the bloody skies a look of disdain and wonderment. Lightning however, curled an arm around her little brothers head and held him; the three of them sat there for several minutes as Hope began calming down.

"C'mon" he said bravely, dragging a hand across his eyes; Lightning kept a comforting arm around his shoulders as they walked, led by Snow. Travelling up the steep hill they'd come from they found another pear-colored platform that whisked them away the moment they set foot on it. Lightning however, felt another knot form in her stomach as the sounds of Sazh pistols reached her ears again: why hadn't they found anything in their way? Apart from Hope's hallucination, there had been nothing to hinder them…and that made Lightning concerned.

However, before them appeared a massive, spiraling tower that seemed to disappear as it ascended towards the sky. But Lightning's focus quickly turned to their welcome party; a massive war machine, painted a fiery red and gold paced calmly before them.

"Maybe it's friendly?" suggested Snow seeing the machines pacifistic disposition; however, as soon as he spoke, the mech turned to face them. Hatches opened around its legs and it collapsed to the ground, lower than before but otherwise immovable; another hatch on its back opened up and it shot out a blade of orange and blue. It rose several feet in the air before it came barreling towards them. A flash of white came in to her peripherals; acting on instinct and a prayer, she seized the men's shoulders and pulled them back into a short drop.

TSSEWW

A beam of fiercest yellow erupted from the swooping sword and the platform above them burst into flames; Lightning let out a silent 'Oof' as she landed, on her back, with Snow and Hope on top of her. As the trio managed to free themselves, three more blades burst from the machines back and Lightning bellowed:

"_AGGRESSION_!"

With the brightest flashes of Red and Blue, Lightning and Snow besieged it with the dark orbs while Hope threw out his arms and unleashing a furious flamethrower. However, their efforts were met with an antagonizing chorus of:

TSSEWW! TSSEWW!

Lowering her stance to protect herself, Lightning caught one of the yellow rays on _Blazefire's_ blade and, to her surprise and delight, bounced it back at its originator, causing it to evaporate in a burst of fire. Another thunderous roar screamed in her ear and the pink-haired l'Cie found Hope back in full power, raising energy fields around himself and the others; reflecting the beams like mirrors.

However, it was no use. No matter how many they destroyed the machine at the foot of the tower simply created more. One of the beams had missed taking off Snow's arm by mere inches as he dropped to the floor, his arm extended and a ball of dark energy bursting from his palm. Lightning watched it: it was a clean shot headed directly for the factory machine; however, disappointment surged across her as one of the many magic swords dived in front and disappeared in the explosion, saving its master. Lightning gnashed her teeth: what they needed was a distraction!

Staring down at her gunblade and then back at the stationary machine and then towards the, sword-filled, sixteen foot gap in between her and her target. She snapped her fingers; the tiny Manadrive gave no response whatsoever; however, a grin cut across her lips, she was just going to have to do this the _fun_ way.

Pushing off hard, Lightning curled into a masterful flip; planting her boots heavily onto one of the many swords trying to cut her head off, she led with her left and smashed into a second. The yellow lasers flying all around her. Running down the length of the third sword and pushing back, high, into the air she came crashing down towards the machine. With an earsplitting crunch, _Blazefire_ took a swan dive deep into the back of the machines neck; its head twisted in attempt to find out what was on its back.

"HOPE, SNOW: NOW!" She shrieked across the chaos. Weaseling her way around the tree trunk neck and the swords trying to blast her into oblivion; she watched the duo, wave their arms in giant circles before each ejaculated magic: Snow's a giant dark orb and Hope's one of his metallic silver spheres. Pulling out her weapon and dodging to safety, she was in time to watch the mech's head disappear in a devastating boom! Instantaneously, the swords dropped like stones, some disappearing into the vast emptiness below; the newly headless machine toppled over the edge and vanished.

Lightning sighed in relief as her comrades joined her. Snow wiped his sweaty brow but let out a nervous chuckle "Wow, _that_ was a tough son-of-a-bitch!"

Whatever Hope's response was Lightning never heard; the numb prickling sensation attacked her at fifty times its original fury and she saw things. What she saw was very odd, as though she were looking through someone else's eyes…Whoever this was, was incredibly tired.

_He was running as fast as he could, an enormous weight weighing him down. He turned sharply, shot out his arm and the floor exploded, giving pause to the chasing Cie'th. A wolf ran past him, growling loudly; the man turned sharply to find a ravenous crystalline zombie approaching rapidly. The man raised his hefty blade and slashed with, what was left of, his remaining strength. The enormous creature crashed heavily into the wall, leaving behind a crater before falling to the ground. He turned and followed the wolf up the winding ramp…a distant voice began calling…_

"Lightning? LIGHTNING!"

The voices brought the pink-haired l'Cie back into a dazed stupor. Snow and Hope were standing in front of her, both with looks of deepest concern. What the heck just happened?! What the hell was this place doing to her? Just then she noticed that, in the corner, was a Cie'th. It lay motionless on the floor, a crater in the wall above it and the markings of a deep slash wound across its front.

Lightning gasped in terror…_Cloud_! She was seeing what Cloud had seen; hysteria was beginning to set in: he was in trouble and on the move! Lightning raced off at top speed, ignoring the outcries of her comrades. Pumping her legs to keep her moving up the tower, the visions swimming back into full clarity:

_He was running up the spiral of ramps. Cloud ran as quickly as possible, the mammoth weight on his back threatening to dominate him. The wolf ahead was cutting down anything in the way but hitting more wall than enemy; Cloud ran past the wolf and kept moving. A shrill whine pierced his ears, and Cloud forced himself to keep going. He ascended higher and higher, his exhausted and injured legs at the end of their rope. And then a heaviness that he could not handle landed on top of him, sending fire charging down his spine and the present weight fell away to places unknown. The heaviness on top of his shifted slightly and another fiery pain ripped across his back. Cloud screamed in agony, his own blood showering him…the light was beginning to fade…there was nothing left but to submit to pain and darkness…the last thing he knew in this world was a ferocious fire in his arm and a flash of brightest green._

"NO!" Lightning screamed it at the height of her lungs ability; her vision restoring the blood red room and the height of the tower she'd ascended. It couldn't be true! She'd lost him once she wouldn't accept it a second time. But there was nothing that could refute the visions, nothing to change the cold, harsh truth that Cloud was dead. Sorrow overwhelmed her, her eyes began to leak at an uncontrollable rate; Serah was gone and now Cloud? There was nothing left for her. Her arm moved independently, _Blazefire_ transforming, until her gunblades barrel stared down the side of her temple.

"STOP!" shouted a voice from behind; a powerful grip wrestled with her, locking her in place. Something was snaking it's way around her elbow, making the angle of her arm too awkward to correct and wrenching the weapon out of her grasp. And then she was free, though momentarily, when another, smaller, pressure captured her around the waist.

"Light-it's okay!" said another frantic voice "Whatever you're seeing, it's not real! You've got to focus."

The voice cut deep into her mind; taking a deep breath, Lightning could feel the hysteria lift like a mist and the calm retaking her nerves. The room was coming back into clearer focus and she looked around: the flight below offered as little evidence to support that a wolf had ever been present in the Cradle as the ramp before her had of suggesting a Cie'th had ambushed Cloud. There were no heavy slash marks on the floors or walls or any mutilated corpses; but it had all been so real! However, nothing was as real as that final, blistering pain in her arm, which lingered as little more than a stinging ghost.

"Are you alright?" asked Snow, _Blazefire_ gripped tightly in his hand and a look of total shock on his face. Lightning nodded slowly, trying to convince herself more than anything. Hope let go of her and looked deep into her eyes,

"What happened? _What did you see_?"

Lightning gulped, unsure of whether or not she'd be able to answer. Seeing her distress, Hope let the matter drop though the pink-haired warrior was fairly certain she'd trained him well enough that he'd guessed what she'd seen.

"Come on" said Snow, flipping the gunblade around and offering its handle back to its master; Lightning took it without hesitation. Taking another calming breath and sensing the support of her friends behind her Lightning continued onward, leading them up the spiraling tower. She did her best to put out of her mind the false images she'd witnessed, but then again: she couldn't deny that some of it seemed too real to pass of as faulty. The sooner they got out of the god-forsaken place the better!

Reaching the top of the tower, two disconcertingly loud growls reached her ears; just then, two very large animals, each with mossy green fur and wooden masks for faces appeared on a landing before them. Both roared hungrily at each other and then marched straight at the trio of l'Cie.

"Back up," said Lightning "Let's find another way around!"

"Uh-oh!"

Snow's outcry averted Lightning's gaze, though her weapon trained itself on the approaching pair. From behind, there was an odd and frightening creature: it was a slender mass, whose crystal skin looked scabbed and decayed. Six antennae wiggled on its back and it's single, stick-like right arm, carried a blade twice the length of its own body; but most frightening of all, it had no face! It's head was a bulbous chunk of flesh that sat needlessly atop its shoulders and a great bloody, l'Cie brand painted across its torso.

"What now, sis?" asked Snow, his fists raised though his eyes not sure on which enemy to focus on. Lightning was staring analytically at each of the three: the first two had bulk though speed had very little to do with brute strength and the one behind looked as though it had both speed and strength. How would this play out? Suddenly, an idea struck her: use them against each other! It was brilliant and it just might work!

But before Lightning could divulge the others in her plan, the tower made a nasty lurch; the floor between them and the bladed Cie'th rose up, blocking it from sight but also sealing Hope on the other side as well.

"HOPE!" the two of them shouted, banging their fists on the pillar but to no success; with the rising of hair on her neck as a warning, Lightning pushed Snow out of the way and crumpled to her knees, just in time to evade the massive claws from tearing her head off her neck. She lifted her sword and turned her attention to the two beasts; Snow rose as well and joined her at her side.

"What about Hope?" he asked from the corner of his mouth.

"He can take care of himself" she replied confidently; this however was not entirely true; while Hope had gotten stronger, he had never really taken on a powerful enemy completely alone. "_Come on Hope_," she thought to herself "_You can do it_!" She then turned her focus back two the duo in front.

"_SLASH AND BURN_!" thundered Lightning, blinded by the light of the bright red rings around Snow and her own navy blue. She charged, attacking the larger of the two, with a blade that alternated between fire and ice-magic's. She struck the wooden face once, twice and the third time in a spinning motion, but to Lightning's surprise and frustration, found that she hadn't even slowed the thing down! It lunged its neck forward and snapped it jaws at her; quickly pulling back her arm saved Lightning from losing it! She swung widely, forgetting to charge her blade, and dragged two inches of steel across it's mask-like face; however, she had left herself wide open and wasn't prepared for the sneak attack as the monster spun, much more quickly than it should have been able to, and it slapped her with its mighty tail! Lightning hit the ground hard and something hot and metallic burned her mouth and throat as it escaped from her. Pushing to her feet, Lightning watched as Snow, in a defensive posture, came skidding next to her with three bloody marks across his midriff.

"What the hell!" he exclaimed as his soon-to-be-sister flashed green and began to tend to his wounds. "We're throwing everything we've got at them and we're not doing a thing!"

The pink-haired l'Cie silently agreed, this wasn't going to end well for them if they kept this up! However, she then noticed Snow's monster seemed slightly off; the eyes of his wooden face appeared to be crying tears of blackish-green sludge and it moved wobbly.

"Snow, what happened to that one?" she inquired sharply "What did you do to it?!"

"That? I hit it with Poison-magic…fat load of good it did, I still can't damage the thing!"

However, staring at the monster, Lightning realized that he was wrong! He'd revealed that it was weak against magic, not physical attacks; turning back to her own beast, the scratch across its face became more poignant and she cursed her own stupidity! They were fighting them wrong…or more accurately, they were each fighting the wrong monster!

"Trade up" she barked "Just do it!" she said, noting his look of confusion. Grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him to his feet, Lightning practically threw him at the massive monster and launched herself towards the smaller of the pair. Charging _Blazefire_ with the chill of her hatred, Lightning struck twice in an X-formation, leaving behind the biting cold that frosted the hair on the beasts head. Thrusting forth her hand and making a giant circle, she clasped the wooden face and the vibrations ran wild as she electrocuted it; it convulsed and howled loudly. Raising her gunblade, who's blade burst into flames, level to her shoulder, Lightning freed her hand and plunged her weapon deep into the side of the monsters head, spilling blood and gore onto the ground. It made no outcry as it died.

Pulling _Blazefire_ free (dripping with blood and grayish brain matter), Lightning turned back; Snow was wailing on the massive creature with everything he could throw at it as chips of wood, strands of hair and globs of blood created a huge mess of the place.

"WHO'S-" he shouted as he planted his knuckles dead center of the creatures nose "-YOUR-" a violent left hook to the jaw "-HERO?!" With a nasty crack, he landed a hefty uppercut to its chin. The mammoth beast flew up, head over heels, landing square on its back and did not move again. Snow let out a cheer of victory but their elation was quickly shattered by the piercingly unnatural scream that rose from the depths…a scream that originated from behind!

"SNOW!"

"YEAH!"

Snow reared back his fist and readied the attack, but then the floor lurched and then slid back into place. Both of them stared in total disbelief; the Cie'th was on the ground, its skin flayed and burnt, it's blade severed and broken. Standing over it, looking harassed and breathing heavily, was Hope, sweat streaking down his ashen face.

"Shall we?" he asked, his voice cracked.

Lightning exchanged looks with Snow and then back to Hope; a smile split the boy's face. Snow began to chuckle and soon enough, all three of them were laughing.

"Come on" Lightning wheezed, she turned on her heel and marched off, still chortling. She'd forgotten what it felt like to laugh, after her episode she never thought she'd be able to do so again. But the laughter was therapeutic and calmed her more greatly and any deep breath.

The ascent up the remaining tower was not long, soon enough they had left behind the mountain of ramps to find their path stymied by a massive pillar. However, it soon enough began to move out of the way, Lightning raised a transformed _Blazefire_, her finger on the trigger. The pillar finished its descent with a deafening 'DOOM' and connected the tower to the next platform. Standing opposite them, holding their weapons cautiously, was a bronze-skinned woman, a red-haired girl and a dark-skinned man wearing a dirty green jacket.

Sazh lowered his weapons with a sigh of relief, "_Oh thank God_! You are _real_, _aren't you_?"

Lightning replaced _Blazefire_ in his holster, "As real as it gets."

"I want to get out of here!" complained Vanille, her voice higher than usual "All of these crazy visions, the endless hordes of Cie'th…I can't take it anymore!"

"Hey, don't worry" said Hope soothingly, but his gaze not at his red-headed companion "I have a feeling this is going to end soon." He raised a pointed finger; the two porcelain statues had returned. They remained as silent as ever but they gave an air of cold indifference. A mighty gust whipped up around them all; the statues rose up, spinning around each other faster and faster; there was a flash of bright light and the statues became one. Descending slowly was a third porcelain woman clad in a hooded gold cloak. Waving her rigid wand in a stiff circle, she appeared to be slicing open the air; with a concise jab, eight sharp spikes jutted out from the edges and a watery-looking substance filled the void, resulting in a mirror-like doorway.

A loud, wet, hungry growl rose from behind; the six l'Cie wheeled and found Cie'th; more Cie'th than Lightning ever thought possible. They ambled and limped noisily down the crimson path, knocking each other over the edges as they moved at full haste towards their prey.

Before she could order a full retreat, the whirring of engines met her ears. Throwing her gaze upward she found a giant, banana-yellow armored military mech descending from the sky: an Eliminator-class machine…_perfect_! It floated lightly in front of the porthole, its engines growling threatening like an ill-tempered guard-dog. Trapped on both sides! This day was beginning to suck!

"We'll hold 'em off!" shouted Fang, raising her spear "You guys take care of him!"

As Fang took off with Sazh and Vanille behind her, Lightning led the charge against the mech; it opened the vents on its behind and fired a salvo of blue energy at them. Unfortunately for it, its opponents were experienced and battle ready l'Cie! Lightning deflected the energy bolts with a lazy flick of her blade; she didn't see it with her eyes, but she did see the flashes of purple and gold that signaled the protection of her friends. Snow raced ahead, turned sharply and held his hand low, fingers laced together for a boost.

Planting her boot squarely in the middle, she had the sensation of abandoning her stomach as she flew higher than the Eliminator. Twisting into a masterful display of acrobatics, Lightning swung with all of her might, filling her ears with the scrape of metal on metal and the machines giant propeller joined her on the descending trip. A heavy thud echoed throughout the Cradle as Snow landed another award-winning punch to the machine and launching it back into the sky. Hope waved his arms and summoning his full power, he gave a twirl and pushed with everything he had left and shot the his magic forth. It hit the machine, full blast, leaving behind a ring of perfectly spherical holes in the center; blasted backward by the force of the spell, the Eliminator flew backward, began to lower and then disappeared completely.

However, there was no time for celebrations as the others quickly fell back to join them, their mission an apparent failure. The army of Cie'th still coming with their innumerable force.

"We need to get out of here" huffed Vanille, staring longingly at the exit portal.

"No good" replied Sazh, slapping ammo cartridges into his pistols "Even if we escape, we'd never close that portal in time to stop all of them!"

"What do you suggest, fight?" asked Snow incredulously; Lightning agreed with Snow: there were too many to fight, they'd have to run. But she couldn't deny Sazh point: they were caught between a rock and a hard place.

An abrupt glisten shone brightly from her chest; Lightning's gaze immediately shifted down to find her Eidolith crystal emerge, suspended by some invisible force. Several more lights gained Lightning's attention and then her own crystal was suddenly encircled by the other five. There was a bright a torrent of colors; Lightning had to shield her eyes from the intensity. As it passed and Lightning's arms fell back, she witnessed an impressive site.

Seven creatures, each of various sizes stood as solitary sentinels, their radiance halting the charge of the Cie'th. From the center of the group, the golden-armored Odin spoke:

_Go, we shall hold them back_

Lightning gasped, "What?! No, we're not going to abandon you!"

_It is our duty_ argued the black dragon-like Eidolon that Lightning recognized as Fang's. It was odd to hear one of her comrades summons speak, Bahamut had a very gruff, matter-of-fact voice. _We came to raise you from despair and then aide you whenever you called us! This is our mission and we gladly accept it!_

_Good-bye, young master Hope, I will miss you_; Lightning watched with mixed emotions as the tank-like Eidolon held out his armored fist, to which Hope planted his own.

_Farewell Master Snow. Farewell Master Snow._ the pair of blue-skinned females chimed in unison to Snow, who was blushing a furious shade of scarlet. Suddenly they broke their uniformity in the most curious way: _We will miss you_. _It has been most fun_!

As everyone said their farewells, Lighting turned up and faced pale aqua into deepest green. "Thank you"

Odin knelt down and bowed so low that his head swept the ground _It has been my sincerest honor to have fought at your my lady_. Odin's head twitched; the ambling and hungry growls had resumed full fervor. He rose back to his full height, holding his swords tightly, _Go now_!

Lightning watched as her Eidolon led the attack but her vision was cut immediately as Hope's Alexander expanded into his widest body and blocked the attack from sight. Doing her best to ignore the sounds of heavily serrated blades on crystalline flesh, she pulled on the scruff's of her lingering comrades necks and led the way to the final battle, intent on giving the Eidolon's justice and making their sacrifice mean something.

**That's one down, two to go. Gosh you guys have no idea how good it feels to write a chapter in under fifteen pages, that's quite refreshing! BTW, I hope you all liked the final scene with the Eidolons (I thought they were pretty useless in the game, unless you were in a pinch) so I thought I'd give them a proper sendoff; and Hope defeating the Wladislaus: I wanted that point made very clear, after a certain point Hope stops needing you, just sit back and let his magic take care of everything! The boy's a tank, LOL! Anyway, hope you liked it and don't forget those reviews please.**


	18. Chapter 13 part 2

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

Inserting her hand into the mirror-like portal, Lightning could feel the odd and intense sensation that she was dunking her hand in a bucket of ice water. It stole the breath from her lungs and it appeared to be pulling her forward, making her skin feel tight and pinched. Her feet left the ground and, for whatever reason, held her breath as her nose touched the substance. The cold felt ten-times worse on her head but, thankfully, it was a short sensation as it crept down past her knees and then disappeared on her boots.

Slithering out from the cold and onto something sturdy and, big surprise, cold, Lightning took a quick moment to regain her breath before scrambling out of the way of the other five who came sliding out behind her.

Lightning looked around to get her bearings, but rubbed her eyes with her knuckles in both shock and to adjust to the intensity of the room. It was whiter than snow but narrow slits in the walls revealed windows that connected floor to ceiling and filled the room with sunlight. However, in the center of the room was a large statue of a stern-faced woman in flowing robes, her hands on her hips; an odd symbol was carved beneath her, a sphere on a pillar with two wings wrapping around the stem (similar to the statue above it). Lightning's eyebrows furrowed, immediately recognizing them both: she was the matron Fal'Cie and center of the Cocoon religious circles, the goddess Lindzei and her symbol…one that was used to corrupt humans by cowardly Fal'Cie.

The pink-haired l'Cie gave the statue a look of grave disgust before pushing onward; dashing off down the corridor, Lightning found something very curious. Apart from six, fluffy white sofa's lining the walls there was no way out of this room. There was no divergence, no opening, no split in the hallway…the room just, _ended_.

"Hoo boy," sighed Sazh plopping down on one of the sofas "I'm beat!"

Before Fang could reprimand him for his tiredness, Lightning expelled a sudden, great gasp of eureka: for a moment she thought she hadn't heard it, but there was no mistaking the undeniable 'click' that emanated from the wall the moment Sazh sat down.

"Everyone, sit down!" she barked quickly; ignoring the looks of surprise and incredulity behind her, Lightning drew her weapon from his holster and, laying him across her lap, sat down on one of the snowy couches with her legs crossed. Lightning stared into Fang's mutinous face, noting every unpleasant wrinkle on her forehead; however, Snow collapsed gratefully onto the couch across from Lightning, releasing a loud groan of relaxation.

Hope and Vanille each took a seat on either side of Snow; Lightning's gaze returned to the bronze-skinned woman, who had thrown her arms into the air and threw herself onto the final couch on the pink-haired l'Cie's right.

_Are you sure_? came a voice in Lightning's ear; it was so gentle but so sharp that she nearly thought it hadn't existed, but Vanille's soft scream informed her that she was not the only one who could hear it.

_Beyond this point lies the end of your journey_. _There will be no respite to protect you_, _no more Fal'Cie to guide you_, _there is only your skills and your nerves in the face of death_…_are you sure_, _this is the path you are willing to accept_?

The voice had vanished as quickly as it had come; however the impact of its words left a profound silence amongst the l'Cie. Lightning stroked _Blazefire_ absentmindedly. This was the end of their journey, no doubt about it: god how she'd changed! A hot-headed and arrogant soldier, fugitive l'Cie and now in full circle the lead, full-powered l'Cie. Her family was being rebuilt, adding her (soon-to-be) brother-in-law and lover (though her stomach twisted into horrible knots when she realized that he and her sister were still missing). However, despite her reflection on her transformation, it still never occurred to her before now that it was almost over…

She stared down at her weapon, seeing her reflection and traced the carved script with her finger; the pale aqua orbs that looked back at her weren't the same as the ones that did two weeks ago. She was stronger, more mature and realized that Cloud was right, what he said to her in Oerba: she was ready to see this through to whatever end it was going to meet! Exchanging looks with the others, Lightning rose to her feet and said firmly

"This is the path we will see through to the end!"

At these words the wall next to Snow and Sazh buckled and collapsed, the two men fled before anything could fall on them. Left in its place was a gaping hole, revealing another room; transforming gun to blade, the pink-haired leader turned to her friends, each of them with the same tired but determined expression; all except Vanille.

The red-haired girl was hard at work, two of their last Oerban Elixirs sitting atop one of the sofas, grinding her hands together. With one hand, she sprinkled some dark-looking powdered plant into one vial (which frothed for a moment before turning blood red into a vivid, poisonous blue) and with the other into her mouth. Vanille swirled it around her lips for a moment before, to Lightning's horror and revulsion, spit it into the other bottle; like its brother the liquid sparked and hissed as though it were on fire before changing into a shocking shade of emerald.

"Oerban Fortisol and Aegisol" she explained seeing the looks of disgust and confusion on her friends faces, though Fang looked at her admiringly.

"You expect us to drink those?"

"But-you spit in that one!"

"They'll make us stronger!" said Vanille defiantly, much to the incredulity of the rest of the group. Lightning watched curiously as Fang cupped her hands and offered them to her best friend; Vanille, appreciative of the support, smiled and poured a small dose into them before the woman but her hands to her lips and drained them. Her face turned unpleasant for a moment and then returned the red-haired girls smile. The trio of men turned to Lightning; her own expression turned sour.

"_Thanks guys, no pressure_"

She too held out her hands and Vanille jovially dumped a little of both potions into them. The two liquids mixed together in her hands and changed color again, only this time, blue and green combined and somehow turned bright orange.

"Are you sure, sis?" inquired Snow, as Hope bravely accepted the same concoction "I mean…those two colors don't make that one…"

Lightning shot him a testy look; his best excuse was that the colors didn't occur naturally?! _A five-year-old could have given the same explanation_. Nevertheless, she subdued the urge to say this aloud, put her palms to her lips and drank. For a moment, Lightning thought she'd swallowed glue as the drink seemed to seal her mouth closed and creep down her throat at a mind-numbingly slow pace; just then, her whole body felt alight as her throat burned and her stomach ignited. Her body was going into overdrive, as some foreign magic began to emit several layers over her skin; the adrenaline was pumping in her blood, psyching her up, readying her physically and mentally. She felt restored and empowered, ready to the point of crying out in absolute euphoria!

Snow, however, did not have the same restraints that Lightning had and roared like a battle-readied animal, his concerns about the potions a thing of the past!

Gripping _Blazefire_ tightly, Lightning turned on her heel (fueled by the effects of the potions) and commanded: "Let's do this!"

Going through the hole-in-the-wall at a brisk walk, Lightning entered onto a balcony at the top of a large, circular room. Staring over the edge to find only a brightly shimmering pool and a single golden throne; Lightning gave her fingers a snap, again her Manadrive gave no response; she did not need to use it, the drop wasn't that far, it was merely to see what weapons were still at her disposal.

"Ready?" her voice barely a whisper.

"Yep" replied Vanille, her voice cracked; Lightning took a deep, calming breath, took two steps forward and walked into the drop. Her caped fluttered and the wind jostled her hair but a dull 'thud' and intense pressure on her feet signified the end of her fall. However, the moment she touched down, the world began to tremble terribly.

"This is it!" cried Snow, getting his feet. Lightning did not answer but began to move towards the throne, seeing the mark of Lindzei etched upon it. She froze, something had changed in the air. The crystal snow still fell as silently as before, but something had sent an electric shock down her spine…it was just like on Pulse…they had the same scent: the smell of annihilation.

_Life's spark shines on once freed from its fleshy shroud_ the evil voice came from nowhere but Lightning had been too immersed in fear to be afraid of it anymore. To her surprise, however, two flashes of blinding radiance emitted from the floor, and two diamond shaped crystals rose into the air. They began to contort in a very odd, grotesque fashion, rock sweating as though it were melting; one was becoming square shaped, the other was sprouting limbs…and then a head. Lightning's heart nearly stopped: hovering high above them was a young boy encased in a block of crystal and his counterpart was a sleeping beauty aboard her shimmering bed.

"SERAH!" bawled Lightning and Snow together

"DAJH!"

_Dreams, meanwhile, shatter in a flash_; an orb of bluish energy formed around the throne before dissipating to reveal the human-form of their enemy, the bandages across his face were now missing and revealed a large chunk missing from his nose. He tapped his staff once and a loud 'crack' cut through the air; Lightning's neck snapped upward only to find the crystal containing Sazh son had exploded. Sazh let out a cry of anguish and collapsed to his knees, his face in his hands. Lightning turned back to the remaining crystal, cracks forming all over the body before finally bursting into a fine crystalline dust.

Lightning felt as though all of her insides had been drenched in ice…it couldn't be, she refused to be believe her own eyes. Gripping at the tiny silver necklace, Lightning realized that the shock had been the worst part but she felt nothing else…gazing back at the floor before her, there was no remnants of the crystals…_as if they hadn't been there at all_. Snow roared furiously and charged, however for the third time, he smashed headlong into a barrier magic and was blasted back onto his rear. The pink-haired warrior ran to his side and offered him her hand.

"Think" she said calmly, seeing the rage in his wet eyes "Where's the _real_ Serah?"

Snow looked up at her confused; he reached into his pocket and pulled out the icy-blue, teardrop-shaped crystal. He gazed into its hypnotic glow for a moment before closing it in his tight fist;

"Look here" said Sazh, pulling the baby Chocobo from his hair; the tiny bird chirped and danced merrily in the palm of his hand. "It isn't real…" he said with a snarl in his voice and a hateful look at the humanoid-Fal'Cie "…just Fal'Cie smoke and mirrors!"

"Yeah" concurred Hope, "They don't work wonders: _they play tricks_!"

Pulling Snow to his feet, Lightning raised her sword and turned back to the ancient-faced Fal'Cie. Barthandelus chortled evilly

"At last, my errant l'Cie! Men fight men…Men battle beasts…Cocoon wars with Pulse, there can be no end to such conflict. But Cocoon's end is imminent and inevitable, will you not at least slay Orphan and make it quick, as an act of mercy?"

"'Mercy'?" shot Lightning scathingly, pointing her sword at the old man "you mean 'murder'! And Cocoon won't die: _we're_ not here for that…we came for _you_!"

A look of pained, genuine disappointment surged across Barthandelus face, however his elder features turned nasty very quickly and his beady eyes flashed malevolently. "Such willful insolence…disappointing; you prolong Cocoon's suffering, and to what end? Refusing me but condemns another to face your Focus tomorrow. If you truly seek salvation, then you will obey! And Lightning…" said the old-man "…I believe I owe you for this!" he jabbed a gnarled middle finger at the hole in his face.

Lightning guffawed smartly, "Excuse me, your holiness but I'll gladly even that up for you if you'd like!"

Raising his staff, Barthandelus owl crony flew from the darkness of the ceiling, circled the room once before pivoting sharply and barreled towards his master. The two collided in a brilliant flash and a massive gust; as Lightning freed her eyes from the crooks of her arms she found the familiar, marble headdress and dagger-like teeth (minus the massive chunk of missing nose).

"GOD DAMN IT, NOT AGAIN!"

Fang's screech didn't even warrant a turn of the head from Lightning; with Snow and Hope by her side and the full fury of her pent up aggression behind her blade, the three of them would be all they needed!

The trio charged; the four creepy, pale faces on Barthandelus headdress moved their jaws soundlessly, though beams of deepest Prussian blue would ejaculate alternatively from each side. Flinging her arm in front of herself, Lightning caught one of the rays on Blazefire's blade, however, the force and speed of the attack erupted in a violent boom that sent her skidding backward.

With a quick shake of her head, Lightning turned back to face her foe, when she noticed his head had begun to swirl. A single beam of sickest green light hit the ground in the center of their formation, enveloping the trio in a poisonous green dome. Lightning urged her legs to move away from the rapidly dissipating pillar but her body had frozen, somehow mesmerized by Barthandelus swirling.

Something grabbed her, roughly, by the collar of her greatcoat and threw her backward. There was a flash of gold and a deafening BANG, the wind wiped up around her and Lightning could only cower under a single, brave hand that had risen to guard her head. When the world had settled, Lightning twisted on her back and rolled onto her knees, the business end of her newly transformed weapon trained on Barthandelus although her eyes meandered away towards her comrades. Hope too was on his knees, though whether he'd been thrown or had collapsed she did not know, however her sight fell upon the tallest of the three. He stood, hunchbacked and bowlegged, his face buried in the crook of his left arm, in the middle of a very shallow crater; Lightning gazed at him with a look of concern and awe. A grunt of pain escaped from his lips as he lowered his arm but they quickly widened into the typical grin…they moved soundlessly but Lightning understood:

"_Go_"

Forcing every ounce of strength she could muster into the heels of her boots, Lightning raced towards the hulking Fal'Cie, dodging the beams of darkest blue, when something like an electric shock ran throughout her body, supercharging her! With _Blazefire_ transformed and risen above her head, Lightning twisted into a double diagonal slash and then a heavy roundhouse kick across first of the ugly faces of Barthandelus hideous headdress. As she spun into her next attack, Lightning had the oddest sensation, like that of thousands of miniscule hands pulling on her skin and hair, dragging her away from her target. Moving her so fast that everything stood still and her sword acting on the momentum, Light appeared before another of the grotesque, mask-like faces and side slashed to the left, striking it hard, and stepped into another before falling backward with a barrage of gunfire. The feeling of immense tugging on her body assailed her again as she twisted into a graceful backflip and her boot came crashing into a third of the four faced diadem; she quickly transitioned into another heavy roundhouse and then dragged her blade horizontal across the nose. As her ultimate power neared its end, Lightning felt for the final time the tiny hands dragging her through space as she spun at top speed like a tornado of death on the fourth magic-spewing mask.

Dropping back to the ground, a great rushing wind flew over her head and Lightning was only in time to square herself on the ground as the eight, metallic orbs of Hope's soared straight through the deadly rays and smashed mercilessly into the headdress. Barthandelus roared in pain, the shards the ugly masks falling to the ground; suddenly his great face split and began to open, the light of dozens of warming cannons giving him the distinct appearance of a bomb about to detonate. Lightning threw herself back onto the ground, knowing to avoid what was coming, when the sound of heavy footfalls reached her over the growing whine of Barthandelus cannons. Shifting her gaze back towards Barthandelus, Lightning found the shocking scene of Snow marching up to their enemy, shot out a hand and grabbed the Fal'Cie's face before it could split open. The pair grappled for a moment, Hope bellowing for the man to get out of there, as the light inside Barthandelus face grew in radiance.

Then, his body unable to handle the immense stress, Barthandelus disappeared in a roaring, violent explosion! Snow had been thrown backward and he landed flat on his back next to Hope; sensing the rings of emerald blaze around both herself and the silver-haired youth, and she could feel the cool, tickling sensation trickle down through the sinews and out her fingers towards the tallest l'Cie.

The clearing smoke revealed a broken and dazed Barthandelus, the remnants of his headdress cracked and ruined upon the ground. Lightning rose to her feet when the scramble of feet met her and she was joined by one on her right, a serious look on his young face, and another to her left, his face bruised but grinning. The trio stood at the ready, each with a murderous look on their faces as Barthandelus regained his senses. Seeing his enemies ready to claim their kill, he did the last thing that Lightning ever expected him to do, something that chilled her blood; he laughed.

Quick as a flash, Barthandelus formed his fingers into a sharp, rigid claw and his bloody-eyes gleamed eerily; a terrible feeling that something had possessed her blood overcame Lightning, making her whole body rigid, and forcing her onto her knees. Under the influence of Barthandelus magic, Lightning's body betrayed her further as it wrenched her arm painfully behind her back, twisting it tighter and tighter until the awkwardness of her wrist could no longer support the weapon and _Blazefire_ hit the ground with a loud clang.

"Your efforts are in vain" chortled Barthandelus "Do you honestly think that three traitorous l'Cie could defeat a fully empowered Fal'Cie? Consequentially, you forget that I maintain leverage over you all."

"Why don't you cram your lies, Dysley" shot Snow arrogantly, struggling against the magic that bound him. "Besides, I know for a fact that you've got nothing on some of us! As for the rest of us, I have no doubts that Cloud's already-such devotion" Barthandelus cut the man off.

"Do you _truly_ believe that I have not factored this into my master plan? With a simple command, my Cie'th armies could descend on the home of Bartholomew Estheim with their usual bloodlust!" Lightning could see, out of the corners of her eye, the boy struggle with uncontainable rage.

"I can personally handle my two Oerban…'guests'; but as for your harlot and the bastard child," (Sazh let fly a suggestion so vile that it caused Vanille to shriek "_Sazh_!") "Rest assured that they remain in my care. As for your comrade…I believe this belongs to you, Lightning."

Barthandelus raised his massive, clawed hand, swung it forth and threw something small at them. The item crashed into the ground with a tiny clatter and skidded to a halt by Lightning's knee, her eyes widening in horror. It was a curved knife, it's handle bound by tight black leather and its pommel and circular hand-guard a metallic bronze…it was her Survival Knife, the one she'd given to Cloud. Lightning stared in both disbelief and denial, as though the reality of it would verify everything she'd hoped and prayed against.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH CLOUD?!" roared Snow, ceasing his struggling; Light listened intently, her heart pounding a violent tattoo against her throat.

"He fought valiantly" Barthandelus rumbled "But in the end, he failed."

"_No_," it was Lightning's worst fears confirmed. She wanted to reject it, to spit back that Barthandelus was lying but she couldn't. Nobody knew that she'd given him the knife, that was something she hadn't felt necessitated to share…but if this was real, and Barthandelus had it, then…

"Yes" cooed Barthandelus, his voice brimming with gleeful mocking at his captives "You went to such lengths to earn his trust but still you were kept distant by his deceptions; tell me: would you like to hear his final, greatest lie" Lightning shot the Fal'Cie a filthy look with eyes sparkling with angry tears that stained her cheeks.

"He was no better than you…_l'Cie_; branded by a troglodyte Fal'Cie of the lower world. He valued you all so little that he didn't even bother to tell you that he shared your pain. In the end, you meant less than those he abandoned on Gaia!"

"SHUT UP!" roared Hope; Lightning stared at the boy with a tear-stained face and never once comprehending the possibility that he could look so furious. "I've had enough of _your_ lies! We know Cloud has kept secrets from us because he thought those were his demons that he had to carry alone. It doesn't matter what you say: Cloud trusts us and nothing you say will change that!"

Lightning smiled gratefully at Hope; though his words had been directed at their divine enemy, it was irrefutable that they were meant for her. And he _was_ right, if Cloud had truly not given a damn about any of them, he would have abandoned them long before now. But no, he had gone so far as to come here to protect them from Barthandelus plots. And, after a moment's consideration, Lightning had to agree that the Fal'Cie's lie had been his weakest one yet.

"Such ignorance"sneered Barthandelus condescendingly, he raised his other clawed hand into a striking position "It matters little: your purpose has been served, and now I have no use for you anymore!" The trio struggled against whatever Barthandelus was doing to bind them but made very little progress to battle the Fal'Cie's rapidly lifting claw; meanwhile, the air behind them was ripe with Fang's profuse swears, Sazh gunfire and Vanille's unhelpful squeals of "_Get out of there_!"

Lightning stifled the urge to tell the red-haired girl to shut up, as she put all of her focus back to the struggle. Barthandelus hand glowered with the same sickly green light from before only this time his enemies couldn't dodge him.

Just then, he froze; Lightning watched curiously as his features distorted into the oddest expression. Suddenly his dagger-toothed mouth opened wide and he wailed at an earsplitting note as a mammoth slash wound tore open his neck, drenching the floor and walls in thick, black blood. The culprit behind the sudden attack came skidding to a halt before the l'Cie, his mammoth sword soaked in the Fal'Cie's sticky gore; however, driving the blade into the ground and turning back to their mutual enemy, a bright green shine from his shoulder and he threw out two, parallel arms, his fingers in a familiar clawed cage. A pale, sky blue beam shot down from the sky and forming a gentle dome that entrenched the Barthandelus confused and screaming face. The fingers curled with as much friendliness as a bee sting and Barthandelus disappeared, screams and all, were drowned by the roaring, nuclear blast.

Lightning did not immediately realize it when everything had settled, for that matter, she hadn't realized that she had regained control of her body as she had turned her head away from the attack. However, as this began to dawn on her, Light wiggled her fingers and moved her legs and neck in short but concise tests; she opened her eyes, shifting her eyes before her, and was in time to watch as a dying Fal'Cie sank into the shining pool at the back of the room. Lightning's eyes turned towards their savior; she couldn't see his face as his features where hidden by shadow, but she could see the enormity of bandages wrapped around his body and the height of sharp, tired spikes.

"That's not…no it couldn't be" said Snow, squinting heavily to see their rescuer "Is…_is that Raines_?!"

"It can't be" said Hope impatiently "Raines is dead, remember?"

Lightning felt her eyes well with tears of relief and a smile slip across her cracked lips as the man limped over to his weapon. Only one man could have saved them, and Cid Raines most certainly did not wield a sword; especially not one _that_ big.

**~o Cloud's POV o~**

"AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!"

The scream ripped through the darkness of the single, lonely corridor with the tenacity of a gunshot. Joined by the melodious sounds of ripping and tearing and, much, profuse swearing, Cloud sat on the cold, metal floor, bleeding freely, and breathing rhythmically as he readied for another attempt to pull the four-foot spike out of his thigh. Taking the longest, thinning end in his both of his hands, Cloud twisted with all of his strength and snapped it cleanly in half; placing a hand over-top of the wound, he grit his teeth tightly and pulled.

A sharp, agonizing fire gushed throughout his lower region and it took every ounce of his strength and discipline to not scream out again; the last thing he needed was to give himself away. He gave another hearty tug, the spike slid five inches backward and a torrent of sticky blood dripped onto his hand and then the floor. Taking a moments break, Cloud forced his mind onto the faint tickle of the healing magic surge from his shoulder and onto the wound, sealing it back to a blood-stained but, nevertheless, fully healed state. The spikey-haired warrior took a deep, calming breath but he couldn't escape the fact that he was tired. No, that was the ultimate understatement, he was exhausted! Had he been at his peak, he wouldn't be in the shabby, injured state that he was, but here was: bleeding like mad, straining as much strength as he could to make his healing magic work and wrapped in makeshift bandages, made from the cloth covering his legs.

Sucking in through his teeth, and gripping the claw tightly, Cloud heaved with everything he had left. Trying to focus less and less on the torturous fire that threatened to claim him, he struggled with the balance of restoration and tugging. With a final, teeth-breathing effort, Cloud grunted in victory as he freed the claw from his leg and slipped sideways, panting and doing his damnedest to keep from passing out but, inexorably, fell victim to the darkness. 

**[Flashback]**

_He was charging down one of the many maze-like paths, a heavy crystalline block under his arm and his swords in his hand; the relentless army of Cie'th hot on their trail. Fenrir was ahead, pulling the block of sleeping crystal that was Serah with all the might his fangs could provide._

_The horrible groans of the hungry enemies rang throughout the hellish dimension with an ominous echo; Cloud forced his legs to move past the initial instinct to freeze and look. Suddenly, something hard and heavy dropped onto his back, smashing the air from his lungs and sending the crystal boy flying; the pain was absolute, his whole spine could have been reduced to a fine powder as badly as it hurt. His Fusion Swords were only inches away from his fingers, Cloud stretched the shoulder sinews to breaking point to reach them when an alien, unfriendly fire tore at his back; he could feel the blood flow. There was a growl and a deafening shriek as the pressure was lifted off his back and a new, blazing hot sensation alleviated the pain._

_Forcing himself back onto his feet, Cloud scooped up the swords and was in time to witness the wolf baring its fangs threateningly at the ambling army. _

"_This is getting us nowhere" hissed Cloud, joining his companion and raising his sword; if the wolf could speak, he would most likely have agreed with his bipedal partner. With the Cie'th drawing nearer and no other options, the spikey-haired man stepped in front of the wolf. "Go!"_

_The wolf remained adamant in its place. "Listen, you're faster than I am and I can hold them back more easily than you can! Just get them someplace safe, I'll cover you!"_

_Cloud quickly lost track of how many of them fell to the brute force of his blade, swinging with every bit of strength remaining into a downward attack that threw one to the ground with a particularly violent and deep slash wound across its glass-like body. Stealing a quick look from the corner of his eye, Cloud found Fenrir dragging the figure of the sleeping girl with almost supernatural force; the fossilized boy had disappeared completely. _

_Another of the monstrous beings crashed down from above, cutting off his view; fearful instinct thrust forth his arm, piercing straight through the bloody eye and out through the back. A terrible, white hot fire tore into his leg; blinded by the agony and nauseated by the sickening, random 'SNAP', Cloud screamed and dropped to the ground, clutching his leg, as his sword fell away with a loud clatter. _

_Pain exploded across his skin as multiple, heavy and moaning creatures collapsed onto his back, slashing and biting every inch of exposed flesh on his body. Cloud fought to reach for his sword or manipulate his Materia, but neither was possible as his Fusion Blades had vanished in the chaos and the use of his magic at such close proximity would undoubtedly kill him. However he needed to do something otherwise his skull was going to get crushed; Cloud's was beginning to weave in and out of consciousness, his vision quickly fading._

_To his immense relief, something did drive back the pain and the heaviness and whatever it was grabbed him roughly by the scruff of his shirt and began to heave. Cloud's eyes opened slowly, becoming more and more aware of the hot, panting breath on his neck and the alarming sight of crystalline zombies feet from them. Throwing out a tired arm and holding as straight as he could, Cloud felt the force jerk his arm wildly and he knew no more passed the massive surge of heat and atomic 'BOOM'._

_When he came too, he was lying in a long, dark corridor and bleeding onto the metal floor. There was no sign of the Cie'th, nor could he find Serah, Dajh or Fenrir…Cloud was completely alone. Pushing into a sitting position, Cloud became aware of only the immense pain across his body and the dominating fire in his leg._

**[End Flashback]**

An ethereal howl penetrated deep through the darkness and consciousness returned in the form of a great, rasping breath. Cloud, having passed out from the stress and pain, found himself face-down on the floor. Pushing himself back into a sitting position Cloud began to slowly work back onto his feet but a wave of dizziness crashed heavily over him; a hot, sticky wetness slid down his leg.

Moving to tend the reopened wound, Cloud reached for the belt cloth, however there was a single shred barely the size of his hand. Automatically and against his better judgment, he grabbed a fistful of his sleeve and yanked; there was a quick 'ripping' noise and the sleeve fell away. Tearing it into three equal strips, he tied each of them end-to-end and began to wrap the make-shift bandage into a tight tourniquet. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself upward and stood shakily on his tattered body. He took a step forward, but it was on his damaged leg that sent a surge of unnatural excruciation through him; it was indomitable, blinding, and he barely felt the blow as his leg gave way and his head bounced off the ground.

Cloud lay there, panting and swearing softly; as he moved to push himself up, his hand brushed against something sturdy and velvety. Shifting his gaze frontward, Cloud found his Fusion Blades on the ground before him. Cloud sighed disparagingly "I'm going to need a vacation after this."

However, something quickly caught his eye, forcing him to pause at his knees during his ascent (aided by using his weapon as a crutch). The single, crimson eye encased by the black of celestial ink and the lonely white pupil staring vindictively up at him; Cloud stared back at it with a mixture of exasperation and relenting. It would be more trouble that it was worth to keep the thing exposed; tearing the final bit of cloth from his belt, barely long enough to help heal the wound on his thigh but enough to cover the marking on his elbow, which vanished underneath a tight knot.

He moved at a sluggish pace, relying heavily on the blade that he used for a walking stick, half dragging his damaged leg. Cloud walked at the mind-numbing crawl for, at least, fifty yards when he met the waking nightmare of crippled people: stairs (even more ominous that it led up into a large void). Taking another deep breath, Cloud began to climb, releasing a hiss of pain with every fresh stab of soreness that ripped throughout his body as he hobbled deeper into the darkness; the soreness he could handle, but his leg wound would surely be the end of him. Just then, a fierce pressure hammered its way deeply into his cranium and Cloud dirtied his mouth again with therapeutic ease.

Cautiously sticking out his hand, Cloud found that the floor and ceiling had merged into a single, circular mass. Giving it a hearty tap with the pommel of his sword, the top opened with an almighty '_crack_' and bathing the dark stairwell in light.

"Such ignorance"sneered a condescending voice, so familiar that it raised the hair on the back of Cloud's neck. Lifting the heavy cover stealthily out of the way, the spikey-haired man found himself inside a large room reminiscent of the inside of a cylinder; a dazzling pool of water was immediately to his aft, but facing him was the backside of a massive, broken marble white creature with one of its claw's aloft in a striking position.

"It matters little" said the deep, piercing voice of Barthandelus, "your purpose has been served, and now I have no use for you anymore!"

"_Get out of there_!" squealed another familiar voice; Cloud's heart skipped a beat. If history had taught him anything, of two things he was sure: Sephiroth had more lives than a coeurl and only a select trio had battled Barthandelus and one of those included…"_Claire_!"

His pain and exhaustion forgotten, the golden-haired warrior took the velvet handle in both hands, raised it onto his shoulder and launched himself with every ounce of strength he could coax out of his legs. Forgoing his usual battle screech, he gave a hearty swing and could feel the blood splatter his face as he ripped through Barthandelus neck. The shrill sound of his death cry pierced Cloud down to his very soul.

Touching down and skidding to a halt, his mammoth sword soaked in the Fal'Cie's sticky gore, Cloud drove the blades into the ground and turning back to the massively bleeding Fal'Cie (an emerald shine radiated from his shoulder) and he threw out two, parallel arms, his fingers in a familiar clawed cage. A sky blue beam shot down from the sky and forming a gentle dome that entrenched the Barthandelus confused and screaming face. Cloud's fingers curled with the harshness of frostbite and Barthandelus vanished, screams and all, the nuclear blast.

Cloud stood his ground, anger and vengeful vindication fueling him, against the blast wave; Barthandelus screams had begun to die down. Cloud watched as he sank, blood still gushing from his neck, into the pool at the back.

"Release…" he croaked "…at last, release!"

"Put a lid on it!" he snarled as Barthandelus face dropped beneath the surface and disappeared. Dropping his arms and picking up his swords, he turned back to face his six comrades who were staring at him with mixed looks of surprise, impression and relief; he smiled gently at them. However, the grandeur of the moment was ruined as pain beyond endurance and exhaustion to the point of death socked him in the face, dropping him like a sack of rocks.

The next moment, a pleasant tickling sensation covered him like a warm blanket; Cloud's gaze returned upwards and found many faces staring at him. Three were white and worried, two looked immensely relieved and the last one looked quite expressionless. A gentle hand touched his shoulder and Cloud's eyes reunited with Lightning's and returned her look of relief and contentment.

"Welcome back buddy" cheered Snow "Tip-top as ever!" Hope and Vanille exchanged looks of shock.

"_Tip-top_?!" cried Vanille shrilly, "He's lucky to be alive! I've _never_ seen someone in such bad shape!"

"Where have you been-" spluttered Sazh though Fang cut him off with the sharp, more pressing question "-_what the hell happened to you_?!"

"Got ambushed" panted Cloud miserably as Lightning eased him into a sitting position. "Turns out I was wrong: Barthandelus _had_ factored me into his plan; he knew that even if I came in your place, _you_ guys would still come looking for me. So, in order to get rid of me, our "friend in common" sent an army of Cie'th to get rid of me."

"_An army_?!" cried Sazh incredulously "Vanille's right, you _are_ lucky to be alive! How did you get away?"

"Wasn't easy," explained Cloud pushing himself upright, still relentlessly being hit with healing magic "People are heavy when they're asleep."

The six of them gave him uncomprehending looks until the light bulb clicked for Vanille:

"Serah and Dajh!" she exclaimed, her face brightening "You found Serah and Dajh!"

Lightning, Snow and Sazh's faces all lit up at Vanille's words and stared anxiously at the spikey-haired man, waiting for his confirmation; Cloud smiled and nodded. Sazh and Snow roared with victorious laughter and then curled their arms so tightly around Cloud that he thought his head would pop off. Hope and Fang both looked thoroughly impressed but it was Lightning's eyes that he sought. For the second time, Mako blue met pale aqua and Claire flashed him a rare smile; they hadn't said a word to each other but it went without saying that nothing would have made either happier than to get the hell out of this god-forsaken place.

Then the creepiest sensation trickled down Cloud's spine; his sharp eyes scanning upwards, he found a small, snow white and machine-like owl gliding high in the air. Cloud's face contorted in horror at the familiarity and terror wrought by the creature; the little creature swerved sharply and bolted straight towards where his master fell. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hope's gaze follow his own and he felt the boy stiffen, lifting an accusing finger

"It's that bird again!"

"Take it out!" roared Cloud "Kill it, _quick_!" He didn't mean to sound panicky, but that thing was too loyal to Barthandelus to be treated any less than a threat and if it was still flying where its master had fallen then perhaps the Fal'Cie had something else in mind.

A pressure planted itself firmly against his back, Cloud peered out with his peripherals to find a silver-haired youth standing back-to-back with him; a brilliant green shine overtook his sideward sight. He and the boy moved together in near perfect synchronization, moving their arms in large, sweeping circles before each bent onto their leading knee (keeping the other straight) and firing forth their leading arms (supported by the other). Two massive balls of flame burst from their closed fists, Cloud's a deep, blazing blue as opposed to Hope's fiery orange, and they collided with a force like a bomb, though they ultimately missed when the owl performed a spectacular barrel roll. Both of them shot out their opposing arms, releasing two similar fireballs but were, again, frustrated as the bird executed another perfect midair dodge.

Each now in his stride, they began rapid firing their magic, one powerful burst after another; but quickly, the room was made even noisier as it was soon filled, not only with the atomic explosions of high-level fire magick's, with roaring gunfire from Lightning and Sazh. The mechanical owl swooped and dived as eloquently as a natural one, though the level of evasiveness employed to remain unharmed by two sorcerers and two crack-shot's was highly disconcerting. Something shot past Cloud's head, his peripherals catching sight of several, tiny black pearls coated in a light mist, and sailed placidly past the owl; the moment they collided with the wall, however, resulting in a massive, deafening explosion that wrought chaos and rubble down upon them all. Though the bird hadn't need to avoid the pearls, the large fragments of rock and concrete were easily outmaneuvered. Snow swore loudly.

An ominous whooshing whipped up around the room; Cloud watched as Vanille charged forth, holding her wand in both hands and doing her best to keep it pointed at the madly moving bird. The wind roared with a resounding rush, however, nothing appeared to happen as the owl continued to fly. Vanille was not daunted and raised her wand again, only this time higher than before; Cloud surely thought she would miss again. Just then, Fang reared back her arm and let fly her spear, though the back end broke off to reveal a large length of chain; the weapon sailed hopeless under the creature as the owl reversed into a climb. The whooshing kicked up again, only this time, the loud rushing converged on the bird, whose wings went limp immediately and began to fall. Cloud watched it drop as if it were in slow motion, much to his shock and horror, as it hit the water in the shimmering pool with a lonely splash.

The water, then, turned the color of liquid gold; the earth began to shake as though an Adamantoise was on the other side of the wall. Snow muttered something almost inaudible as Lightning retorted something in sarcastic return.

_A Haven, yea…yet it must fall, ere we be saved_

The new voice from an unknown originator cut across the violent shaking with the ruthlessness of ice-cold water. Cloud stared with a mixture of terror and exasperation, though not much surprise, to realize its location but was highly disconcerted to hear that it did not sound "normal."

Then a monstrous figure popped its head from the surface of the water and rose stealthily from its hiding place. It was the figure of a porcelain woman, her eyes two set green gems and her grin cold and otherworldly. Her long, slender hand caressed gently a small, equally, white face that looked like the creepy image of a sleeping fetus. However, though several, spiked golden wings protruded from her right shoulder, on her left was a third face! This one black and sporting a mammoth, clawed talon and covered in a layer of purple crystal, it's burning red eyes glaring down at them, though it smiled with sharp, dagger-like teeth.

_Too frail a shell, and humans should not thrive _both mouths moved simultaneously and two voices blended into one (the third face remained deftly asleep) _Too stout a shell, and they would not die_! Cloud stared at it, hardly daring to breath, as it continued rising to tower ominously over them all.

_Slaughter and Salvation: two irreconcilable Focuses we bore, yet bound were we in a cocoon prison, impervious to our power! And so we thank you, for granting us our long awaited birth._

"D-Dysley?" gasped Snow, his fists taught and reared into position, though he stared with eyes no more believing than Cloud's.

"No" said Sazh, fingering the triggers of his pistols "Not anymore"; Cloud noted that he said it, not as a statement or even a question, but as mere fact and truth. The god-like- (no, no that would only vindicate what Barthandelus was after to refer to it as such) -the demon above appeared to have heard them and spoke promptly

_We are the Abandoned One, born but now to die: our name is Orphan! By our hand, the world shall know redemption!_

As it spoke, it continued its unnatural levitation, higher and higher, revealing its lower body to be a silvery sword blade, etched with illegible purple script. Suddenly it flipped, head over blade tip, pointing its weaponized bottom skyward.

Immediately and instinctively, Cloud ran forth followed closely by Hope; the duo was squaring themselves as solidly as possible, when a thunderously heavy boot clomped down to his left. Nearly about to yell at Lightning or Snow to back off, his words stumbled in his throat, nowhere near prepared to see the Busch pilot Sazh next to him. The pilot nodded towards the stunned man; time was running out and with nothing else, Cloud gave the boy a quick jerk of the head. The world became a majestic mist of purple and gold. All three men held both arms parallel and aloft, ejaculating a shapeless, bluish-green mist which solidified to form a massive barrier around the seven l'Cie.

The creature's sword-like body crashed down with a streak of silver; an earsplitting roar combined with the almighty crack as Orphan hit the trio with unimaginable force, shattering their shield and dropping all three heavily onto the newly formed crater.

For the umpteenth time that day, a gripping fire tore throughout Cloud's neck as his forehead bounced violently off the floor, crimson bursting from his mouth. Fighting back the pain and blinking stars out of his eyes, he tried to push himself upward though his arms seemed opposed to the idea, refusing to let him up further than half-bent and a crooked back would allow. Using what he had, his eyes gazed towards his comrades; to his right, Hope lay on his side bleeding shockingly wet and scarlet from the deep gash on his cheek. Sazh was spread eagle and his eyes closed, rosy flowers blossoming across his torso, staining through the green jacket. Both were unmoving but breathing, effectively down for the count.

A blindly furious war cry echoed from behind, upsetting the already raging headache, and Cloud watched helplessly as two blurred figured charged, swiftly passed him! Orphan snapped the left talon, sheathing its fingers in a nasty blackish-purple aura, and then flicked its clawed fingers lazily. A bright, heavy beam shot away like a bolt from the blue and smashed devastatingly into Snow's midriff; the tall blond staggered backward, clutching his middle (Cloud could not see his face though he guessed it was filled with incredible agony). He sank onto his knees, his shoulders hunching, and did not move again. Cloud's eyes immediately traced back to the front, watching as Lightning scored hit after hit across the crystalline blade; however, the porcelain woman waved her hand, chuckling ingratiatingly, as the pink-haired warrior became enveloped in a veil of brightest blue which vanished in an instant. Something was wrong, her sword had fallen limply to her side and she stood dazed before an unforgiving foe.

The left talon moved in a flash and Lightning flew backwards, three bloodied cuts across her front, painting her greatcoat. Cloud's body worked automatically, fighting passed the exhaustion and pain that pinned him down, leaped high into the air and with a dull 'flump' caught Lightning in his arms; the force he'd been hit with had negated his jumping force and he fell gracefully onto the ground, straight below. Lightning's face was bleach white and her eyes, too, were closed, but Cloud could feel the pulse beating below her palm and took comfort in it.

However, his appreciation for the moment was stolen from him as the creature, Orphan, began to shine a sickly red color. Red turned to orange; Orange turned to yellow; finally the yellow traversed from a bodily cloak, to a boulder-sized sphere, cupped gingerly in the clawed talon. Two final figures ran forth, one taking a squared position at the front hiding squarely behind her spear and the other was twirling like a ballerina, ejaculating soft white lights down on the incapacitated.

There was a colossal explosion, drenching everyone in sight within the stormy clutches of fire and pain. Cloud hit the ground hard, rolling onto (what felt like) a broken shoulder and then, once again, onto his head; something wet and sticky rolled down his forehead and down the bridge of his nose. The roaring and intensity lasted only a moment before all returned to a seeming calm; the spikey-haired warrior peered up, because his limbs (as it seemed) no longer wished to obey, as though his very body were screaming at him to stay down. Lightning was feet from him, face down and still unmoving; Snow, Hope and Sazh all had been flung backward as well, the tallest and silver-haired l'Cie were clumped in a tangle of bodies, and Sazh had disappeared from sight altogether. His eyes forward, Cloud watched while Fang, still squared in the position that had taken the fullest brunt of the attack, was plagued by the restorative powers of her red-haired companion.

Gazing, hatefully, upward towards the demonic being lording over them, Cloud felt his blood boil as the creature laughed sycophantically.

_Have you ever paused to consider our reason for making l'Cie of men?_ spoke Orphan to all who were still conscious or moving _We Fal'Cie are crafted for a single purpose, and granted finite power to that end. With men, it is not so; men dream, aspire, and through indomitable force of will achieve the impossible. Your power is beyond measure! We take l'Cie so we might wield such strength; through you, we obtained freedom from our bondage._

Cloud listened without interest to Orphan's pious explanation; this was not true, not for all of them. He'd seen it first hand with Atomos, a Fal'Cie, pleased as it could be, to live for eternity without such self-righteous means; even Anima and Dahaka. While they Orphan's description to a tee, it suddenly struck Cloud that, even though one had sent the six around him on a quest to destroy Cocoon, why send them to do what another was already plotting? Unless, their mission had meant Orphan all along, to destroy him and save everyone in his destructive way; if this were indeed true, then surely his own Fal'Cie (Dahaka) who had sent him a vision of this very same encounter, had meant for his own quest to save their home below as well. Cloud's silent conjecture split a weak grin across his face; a rush of gratitude and affection towards those whom he'd never see again.

However, the room had gotten quiet (Cloud's neck snapping upwards) and witnessed Orphan stare maniacally down at the pair of Oerban women.

_And now, your Focus alone remains. Defy it, and all will be for naught; Cocoon's sacrifice and that of Gran Pulse as well. _The purplish-black talon snapped its fingers, trapping Vanille in a cloak of bloodiest red; the girl shrieked in excruciated pain. _Yet, if we summon the Maker, we will be granted the chance to begin again, all of our sins absolved and the world-born anew!_

Vanille fell to the ground, fresh screams emanating from between the harsh, terrified sobs.

_Submit, l'Cie! Become Ragnarok, lead us into the light!_ Orphan's voice had fallen from its reverie and become dark and threatening. Fang stared from it, to the girl (tears of her own splashing down her cheeks) and screeched up at it

"Stop it! LET HER GO!"

_We have no need for flawed l'Cie_ replied Orphan coldly; it raised its talon to strike but Fang stepped in front of the girl, her spear dropped into a non-attacking position.

"I'll do it" she said in the most defeated voice possible "I'll destroy you!"

Both of the mouths split into evil, toothy smiles; the bloody cloak surrounding Vanille disappeared and girl's screams of torment ceased, though the pained tears continued to echo across the room.

_Ragnarok_ said the chanting voice of the porcelain woman _the will to guide_ _a world into oblivion, can you bear the sin of our salvation?_

"You heard me the first time" snapped Fang "I said I'll do it!"

"You can't-" whimpered a small voice; Cloud stared in pity and horror, having never heard the girl speak in such a way. She picked herself up off the ground, eyes still puffy and brimming "I-I'll be f-f-fine…you can't forget our p-p-p-promise! We promised to save Cocoon, _we promised_!"

Cloud's look of pity quickly changed completely stupefied as Fang turned her spear and tickled Vanille's chin with one of its sharp edges.

"I made _another_ promise too" said the woman harshly, her hazel eyes glazed and unfocused "to protect my family. Sometimes, you've got to choose!" The bronze-skinned woman raised her weapon into a striking position, Vanille's head hung as she cowered, awaiting her death by loved one. Just then, Cloud's body released him from its stubborn hold and a surge of adrenaline pumped his leg muscles into overdrive; he was up and charging before he was rightfully aware of what he was doing. Thankfully though, he'd caught Fang completely off guard, and curled his arms around her waist, tackling her to the ground. The pair wrestled silent but violently on the ground, Fang struggling as hard as she might and Cloud doing the same but to hold on while avoiding her frantic strikes. Several moments of fighting later, the spikey-haired man lay flat on his back, sporting a fat, bloody lip but contained the bronze-skinned woman in a tight full-nelson.

"What are you doing?!" Cloud cried, outraged at the heinous sight before him

"Back off!"

"This isn't the time to be losing your senses!"

"I have no qualms about killing you too!" spat Fang, still vehemently struggling.

"I don't care if you kill me" gasped a winded Cloud, as Fang drew her elbow out of his gut "But you're not going to kill the only family you've got left…_not while I'm still breathing_!"

The woman's writhing lessened and the tightness of her scratching hands loosened; neither Cloud or Fang had had the best of relationships, but he could tell that something he'd said had hit her where she was not prepared.

"Or me" said another, sudden voice causing Cloud and Fang's heads to turn. Lightning, Snow, Sazh and Hope, all bloody and disheveled, but standing as firm sentinels in front of their red-haired ally. "What do you gain from hurting Vanille" she spat disgustedly "_We're in this together_!"

"This is _my_ Focus!" said Fang, her voice hardening "No one's gonna stop me!"

Another fierce pain ripped through his midriff before an unimaginable fire smashed onto his nose and Fang rolled off of him. There was the clomp of rushing boots and a rush of wind and two dull thuds hit the ground next to him; blinding away the blood and renewed stars, Cloud was in time to see Fang leap high, higher than humanly possible, higher than his own Cid jacked up on booze, her spear raised high. She came crashing down…

And then everything went dark, it was pain passed endurance and Cloud was sure beyond any doubt that he was dead. He was falling, deeper and deeper into that cold, crushing oblivion, his eyes closing, content to fade away into nothingness.

The images of the many events in his life began to flash through his mind: two massive men, one smoking a cigarette and the other pumping his weaponized prosthetic; a pale, vampire-like man and a wolfish-lion; a cheerful youth, robotic cat and a sadly smiling brunette. Each one of them stared coldly and angrily at him; then the seven of them turned their backs to him and vanished into the abyss.

It was at this that it dawned on Cloud: if he were dead and fading into the Lifestream, then why was everything cruel and spiteful? He had been dead before and this was nothing like the other time; then it had been a warm and welcoming experience, but this was cold and dark and pain hung like a misty veil beyond his closed eyes.

An ethereal howl snapped his eyelids open and making him see the hopeless void surrounding him; he couldn't move though his determination would not allow him to remain stationary. Cloud swung his arms and kicked his legs, willing himself to move, but he remained frustratingly immobile. However, something gripped him around the foot, dragging his gaze downward; the spikey-haired man found a pale, golden-armored warrior having caught him in a cupped hand form. Cloud recognized it immediately as the Eidolon they had battled in the Vile Peaks almost a lifetime ago…Claire's Eidolon.

_I have been sent to help you_ spoke a voice in his ear; however, as Cloud expected to be shot off into the darkness, the eidolon squeezed his foot tightly. _Do you care for my lady?_

Cloud stared, confused. He'd never heard such talk from an Eidolon before, but he nodded firmly. Mako blue connected with emerald, and they glared each other down for the longest time; Cloud felt as though his very soul was being examined but he hid nothing, his feelings laid bare for the Eidolon to see…and then the summon smiled.

_I believe you_ he said, loosening his grip on his foot _take care of her, make her happy!_ With that, the Eidolon's arms sprang forward and shot the spikey-haired man through the darkness like a silent bullet. The cold stung his eyes as he flew, scanning for any signs of life. And then, like a light in the distance, he found something shining white; twisting his body so that the momentum could direct him towards where he needed to be. Drifting closer by the second, he found them: Snow, Sazh and Hope, all hovering immobile and unconscious; a flash of pink. Cloud turned and found Claire a little ways off, trapped like a flower, pressed between the pages of a book. He called out to her, when she did not respond Cloud pushed off (unfortunately using Sazh as a springboard) reach out his hand and took her wrist.

A flood of images rushed throughout his mind's eye; some were familiar: He and Claire meeting on that pier, the raid on Bodhum, traversing the Vile Peaks and then through the Gapra Whitewoods. Then there were some that he couldn't place at all: a city of lights and a vast airship…scenes of Lt. Amodar, Jihl Nabaat, Cid Raines, Yaag Rosch. Then, a scene he did not recognize at all. The world was bright and full of laughing, like one giant party, Sazh was cracking jokes, at which, Hope, Dajh and Vanille were rolling. Fang, Serah (Cloud had forgotten just how much she resembled her sister) and Lebreau were chuckling in pleasant conversation, while Snow and Gadot played a horribly mismatched game of darts against Maqui and Yuj. Cloud couldn't believe what he was seeing, it was so different from the present situation, so different from how he was; however, his gaze fell upon the one he was searching for. Claire was standing quietly, watching the game, smiling; absent of thought, he reached out and gripped her shoulder. However, she reacted as though she'd received an electric jolt and turned to him with a look of utmost surprise. She wasn't a part of the vision, this was the Claire he knew and judging by the look in her eyes, she was thinking the same thing about him. They stepped forward simultaneously and wrapped their arms around each other in a warm embrace.

The vision had vanished, and returning them back to the void, but the two remained united; Cloud's heart fluttered at mere contact with her, he did not want to part with her, not again. However, the grunting and groaning around them tore the two apart; Cloud felt as if someone had just punched him.

"Ugh," moaned Sazh, cradling his head in his hands "What happened?"

"Trickery" explained Cloud, summarily "I can't believe none of us saw it, it was Fang! He was always going after Fang!"

"They hid it from us" said Hope despondently "and we made her go it alone!"

"Well, we're gonna put a stop to that right now!" said Snow with his pep-talk voice "Follow me!" Cloud shook his head in embarrassment as he attempted to move but resulted in an awkward, weightless flapping of limbs.

"We don't have to" said Lightning impatiently; she was right. All around them the darkness was dissolving back into the circular room, and Cloud took notice that his swords were only inches away; as he wrapped his fingers around the velvety handle, the sight before him that caused Cloud's eyebrows to furrow into an almost irrevocable manner. Fang was suspended in the air, held by her wrists by some form of magic and Vanille stood stone-still but crying audibly. Find

"Vanille…" panted a weak sounding Fang "…run"

"_No_" said the girl defiantly, "I swore wouldn't run away anymore! I'd rather fight and lose than give up without even trying!"

With all eyes in the room fixed on the red-haired girl, Cloud took advantage of the distraction and swung the hefty sword with a growl and ejaculated a fierce blue light that ripped across the ground and tore straight into the center face of Orphan. Both faces howled in rage and confusion as the beam split into a masterful 'BOOM' and engulfing them in in fire and dust. Whatever spell held Fang aloft had broken and the explosion had thrown the woman backward; running and leaping skyward, Snow caught Fang in his arms and landed with a muffled thud. Vanille stared at the pair of them in utter disbelief.

"Miracles out of misery," said Sazh with a hint of derision in his voice "You've got to be kidding me."

Lightning and Hope stepped forward calmly; Hope ran over to the limp woman in Snows arm, place a hand on her forehead and enveloping her in a gentle white light. "Yeah, Fang" he said calmly "Who'd be dumb enough to swallow _that_ crock?"

"Sure, we've all had better weeks" said Lighting, her gunblade trained on Orphan and her other hand tightly wound around Fang's forgotten weapon.

"Y-You're alive?!" gasped Vanille, her face in wonder but her voice confused.

"But you can't be" said Fang, her expression and voice identical to Vanille's.

Lightning shrugged "Could be more Fal'Cie smoke and mirrors."

Snow turned towards the bronze-skinned woman, his features disappointed and his eyes wet "Fang, I'm sorry…"

Lightning stepped forward, picking up where Snow had faltered "…we made you go it alone." The pink-haired warrior extended her arm, offering the spear back to its master.

"Second time now, isn't it?" said Fang, stalwartly refusing to look at them but took the weapon with a concise jerk of the head.

"But, where did you go?"

"Somewhere cold and dark" explained Hope, his expression quite unreadable "Just thinking about everything that's happened until now. And then-then it was like-"

"It was like I had a glimpse of the future" said Snow, his eyes wide with wonder and his features in almost a dreamy state as he stared down at the teardrop crystal. "Everyone was smiling and laughing…even Serah, _even Light_ and Cloud was there too!" Cloud smiled as the tallest blond gave him his signature, toothy grin.

"I don't know" rambled a confused Sazh, "It was a new Focus or something. You know, I'm thinking…didn't make sense, of course…knowing we were worm bait and all, but…" The Chocobo chick nested in Sazh hair chirped merrily, the pilot chuckled and stroked it with a finger "…as luck would have it, next thing I know I feel someone pushing me right along."

"And you were there too Fang, same side, all of us" said Lightning gently, staring deep in deep hazel eyes "Together to the end."

Tears were falling freely down Fang's cheeks, as she looked everywhere but towards her friends "I-but…"

"No more of that" said Cloud softly, placing a comforting hand on the bronze-skinned woman's shoulder. "Take it from someone who learned this lesson too…it may feel like you're alone and sometimes, you don't want help because you think it'll make you appear weak. It's only when we're at our weakest that we can gain the strength to keep going."

Fang stared curiously at Cloud, almost reevaluating the worth of someone like him; she smiled weakly and patted his hand in a reassuring way. A new respect had been forged between them.

A rattling scream echoed across the room, drawing the attention of all seven warriors; Orphan was dying. The porcelain woman and the purplish-black face cracked and screamed as they fell apart, large chucks falling away into the water below. However, as the two shrieking faces splashed down and vanished, the creepy third face opened its eyes (revealing two clear, silvery orbs) and revealing its body within a duo of golden rings.

Cloud lifted his Fusion Swords and pointed it threateningly at the new adversary; beside him, he could hear the '_shik_' of transforming metal. Gazing out of his peripherals, he exchanged confident smiles with Claire as they stood back-to-back. Snow took his place opposite him and said for the whole group to hear: "The heroes never die!"

The spikey-haired man nodded approvingly "Yeah, now let's go: we've got a world to save! You say you want your day of Wrath, do you? Well it's coming right up!" Cloud chuckled at the stupidity of the moment, trying to act the leader part; he gave an apologetic glance to Claire, who grinned nonchalantly and turned back to Orphan, her gaze stony.

"If we have the power to destroy Cocoon, then we have the power to save it" she said loudly.

"Time to give the people what they really want!" cheered Sazh, to the approval of Fang and Hope.

"We can do it" said Hope "I know we can, we've made it this far!" to which Vanille praised

"Let's make a real miracle happen!"

Orphan laughed, it was a high and unnatural sound that felt like being doused in ice water. _You overreach yourself_ said the demonic creature blithely. However, Lightning stepped forward and training her weapon on the creepy Fal'Cie.

"No," she said "We overreach _you_!"

_Is that so?_

"You don't believe in anything" said Lightning staring at the creature with a look of both pity and revulsion "_You gave up on life before you were even born_! So, you sat poisoning Cocoon from the inside, waiting for someone to come and destroy you. Sure, you think the end of the world is salvation and all you care about is death's release; so _take it_ and leave the rest of us alone! _We_ don't think like that, when we think there's no hope left we keep looking until we find some. Maybe Cocoon is past saving, but it's our home and we'll protect it or die trying! We live to make the impossible, possible: _that_ is our Focus!"

Then, without warning, the seven of them charged forward, towards the shrill battle cry of the demonic Fal'Cie. Not one of them knew what the outcome of this battle would be, but none of them cared as they raced, together, at top speed to what would surely be their final battle.

**Oh, boy this chapter was a pain in the butt! My editor asked me if I enjoyed putting Cloud through so much pain…not gonna lie: there's a little satisfaction. Anyway, hoped you guys liked this one, don't forget to review please :-). **


	19. Chapter 13 part 3

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

Orphan was dead. Not, yet, I the physical sense but against seven angry and fully empowered l'Cie what chance did it stand? Though he gripped his sword tightly, Cloud hung back to let those who deserved it more take the first shot. A glance from his peripherals caught sight of the pink-haired warrior reaching out her arm; catching her wrist, Cloud flung her forward with all the strength that his exhausted muscles could muster and watched as she hit the baby-like face in a twirling attack, striking the face three times.

Lightning's attacks were lost in the volley that followed: the torrent of fiery orange and Non-Elemental spells, cast by the Pilot, Oerban and Silver-haired youth. Suddenly, a flash of beige shot passed him, Snow delivered a bone-shattering uppercut to the porcelain baby face and launched Orphan skyward; a dark-haired woman, pushing off from the trench-coat wearing man, and slammed the demon-Fal'Cie powerfully onto the ground. All the while, Orphan screamed, loudly and shrilly; and as Light came around for her final attack, something black and slimy slithered out of the widened mouth and pounced like a striking zolom. However, Cloud swung his massive sword with three overpowering swipes and the tongue fell to the floor; thick, petrol-smelling gore splattered the walls and floor. Orphan's death cry did not last much longer, as Light's attacks hit home and broke apart the porcelain face.

The Fal'Cie froze, completely silent, when a blinding blue light burst from behind; Orphan fell backward, shrinking as it descended. Smaller and smaller until the Fal'Cie disappeared into, what appeared to be, a single, judgmental eye. Suddenly the world went dark, the only light emanating eerily from the window-like eye. Vanille and Hope let out howls of shock.

Cloud wheeled around and saw, with disbelieving eyes, that the throne room was dissolving; makes sense, he reasoned, with Orphan gone there was no need to maintain the cradle. Just then, the floor dropped from beneath their feet, though they did not fall. They hung high in the air, higher than the top of the Sanctum's tower, watching as screams from people below rose like a terrifying song and the hordes of monsters falling dead to the ground. Snow gasped loudly; Cloud's eyes widened with shock as the man's skin began to shine a wonderful icy-blue. Gazing amongst the others, the spikey-haired man found Sazh, Hope and Lightning's skin to each be doing the same.

"Stay together" called Light to the others. It was when Cloud joined hands with Lightning and Snow that he saw it; the gusting winds forced his neck downward and he could see the growing devastation. Fiery cracks were ripping across the ground and chunks of the earth were beginning to fly upward, but amidst the chaos were the two Oerban woman, hand-in-hand and smiling gently. Cloud's stomach knotted, he knew that smile (he'd seen it before), it was the relentless, unforgiving smile of farewell. Snow and Hope called out to them though they made no response; they turned to each other, looked deeply into each other's eyes. Two bright lights radiated from their bodies (one from Vanille's leg, the other from Fang's shoulder) and engulfed them in their radiance; the lights grew in their brilliance, and the women vanished into their depths. A loud 'SNAP' ripped across the group as the tower below cracked and sending massive shards of glass upward. A shocked gasped stole their attention. Cloud's neck snapped sharply towards the source and Sazh lifted a startled finger at him.

Looking down, Cloud felt his heart miss a beat as a familiar icy-blue shine was dancing across the crook of his bandaged elbow. The secret was out. But something then caught his eye: through a shard of glass that sailed passed the looks of disbelief and horror, he could see two objects falling rapidly to the floor of the world behind him. Both were a radiant, greenish-blue and distinctly crystalline…Cloud's eyes widened in terror: if those hit the ground at _that_ speed, neither would recover!

Releasing Snow, ignoring the intense questions being hurled at him, Cloud broke character completely and cupped Lightning's face, kissing her forehead gently.

"I'll be back!" he said loudly over the chaos, staring deeply and honestly into her eyes; letting go of her hand as well, Cloud pumped his legs and sailed away. He barely heard the screams of his name and the order to come back, as the wind overtook his sense of sound and he dived. The wind filled his eyes and rustled his hair wildly but his mind was trained on the task at hand and he gripped his sword and jerked it hard. He could feel the blades break apart and he caught the hollowed _Avenger_ with his right, dragging the remaining blades over the left shoulder. He swiped the double-blades, breaking a chunk of concrete that had had detached and lobbed itself at him; however, there was an almighty '_crack_' from behind (Cloud swiveled his hips to see). The apex of the tower (formerly Orphan's Throne) had fallen away from the remained, however, the sizable mass was too heavy to fall in with the non-existent gravity and came crashing towards him. With Serah and Dajh gaining distance from him, Cloud shot out his arm (driving Avenger into a passing slab) and pushed off before the pain of the sudden stop could set in, twisting into a deadly bladed tornado.

He hit the building like a brick through glass, slicing through concrete, wood and marble as though it were nothing; a gust of hot air hit him in the face as he broke through; another deafening '_crack_' shanked his eardrums. Cloud arched his back and fell backward, entering into another free-fall. Soaring passed the destroyed tower summit, Cloud rolled his eyes with exasperation as something else (something large, wide and bridge looking) came sailing upward on a crash course with the sleeping crystals; feeling the power course through him from the shine of gold in his arm, Cloud narrowed his body as much as he could and zoomed downward. Shooting passed the broken building, beyond the falling crystal duo, the spikey-haired l'Cie brought the swords back together behind his back and grabbed the handle with both hands. Using the momentum to his advantage, Cloud rolled into his attack and cut through the bridge like melted butter.

Strapping the sword firmly to his back (ignoring the mammoth 'BOOM' from above him as the bridge halves smashed into the two parts of the Sanctum tower), widened his body and parachuted upward, finally grabbing hold of the two crystals. Just then, something yanked his collar violently and pulled him, Serah and Dajh into a head-over-heels roll. Leaving behind his stomach and moving faster than he'd ever moved in his life, Cloud slammed to an abrupt halt earning him a mouthful of dirt and an acrid taste in his mouth. Pushing his bruised and battered body off of the ground, once again, Cloud looked up and found Serah and Dajh crystal beds right-side up, and a bloody-red sun rising against a pitch-black sky. The spikey-haired man stared incredibly at the location around him. _Pulse_, _he was back on Gran Pulse_! Cloud's eyebrows contracted in confusion, what was going on?! Literally a second ago he was in the collapsing city of Eden and now he was thousands of miles away on the lower continent! Suddenly something occurred to him, if he was on Gran Pulse and the sun was clearly in front of him, then what was making the wind kick violently around him and a fierce, fiery light to grow from above. Against his better judgment, Cloud diverted Mako blue eyes upward.

The sudden image of a gargantuan black mass falling in burning cloak flooded his mind at the horrific sight before him. In Oerba, Cocoon looked no bigger than a blitzball but its rapid descent quickly made evident the true magnitude of its enormity. Without thinking, Cloud snatched his sword from his back, circled it three times above his head and collided it heavily onto the dirt; a purplish light from behind and several fiery orbs shot from behind him and charged mercilessly charged towards the falling pseudo-country. However, the orbs disappeared soundlessly into the falling world. Something heavy burst from the ground, blasting the spikey-haired l'Cie off his feet and onto his back. Rolling back onto his feet, Cloud was in time to witness the air and earth fly upwards and hit Cocoon, slowing it greatly but not stopping it. Water rose upward as well and began to swirl around the fiery continent; for the faintest moment, Cloud could have sworn the whirling waters had formed human shapes…the distant, victorious laughter of two women danced as ephemerally as one of the wolf's howls.

A violent 'CRASH' broke across the air and the connective tower rapidly solidified in its tomb of bluish crystal; Cloud shielded his eyes from the immense light reflected from the growing sunlight. And then, faster than the blink of an eye, everything became disconcertingly still; the warmth and brightness of the sun was returning to those nature had intended, and it was only then that cloud safely opened his eyes. What he saw nearly floored him:

Suspended hundreds of feet in the air, coated in the same crystal as the jagged spike it sat atop of, was Cocoon. Cloud stared at it was a mixture of impression and awe, when his thoughts fell upon the smiles of Fang and Vanille…this had to be their doing. Cloud stared sadly up at the new crystal monument that would forever stand as a symbol of their courage, resolve and their sacrifice.

Something then pulsed near his leg, stirring the spikey-haired man out of his reverie; driving a hand into his pocket, Cloud pulled something spherical and vibrating out. Once again, Mako blue eyes came into contact with metallic silver. However, this time the Materia was no longer opaque, but radiated an aura of shockingly familiar icy blue. Automatically removing the strip of cloth hiding the, no longer, secret brand (which was now very defined in its dark coloration), Cloud found the same aura swirling foggily around his elbow, halting his crystal transformation. Moving on its own, hand moved towards arm, and connected cool silver to the black of celestial ink; Cloud listened as a sickening squelch signified the Materia's entrance (at long last) into his skin. It was an odd sensation, the vibrations like an itchy tickle that he couldn't eliminate, sending alternative surges of frigid cold and blazing heat throughout his arm.

The feeling lasted several minutes, though the rapid movements of the Materia in his skin made it feel as though it would shake out of his body. After a moment longer of holding a hand over the crook of the arm, the intense vibrations ceased. A small green light sparkled from in between his fingers when a tiny pressure knocked lightly against his hand; Cloud watched with exhausted incredulity as the silver Materia rose out of the skin of its own volition, the aura no longer silvery-blue but a vivid, poisonous green. Another new feature practically jumped out at the spikey-haired man, wiping away exhaustion and replacing it with genuine surprise. The l'Cie brand that was once etched upon his arm had moved onto the face of the Materia, the glow of impending crystallization having vanished as well; the realization took a full minute to fully process in Cloud's mind. He was free!

A naïve hand reached up to take the tiny crystal but had barely grazed it with his finger when the orb burst into a billion green stars and faded away with the gentle breeze. A howl cut across the new found stillness of the morning, though Cloud did not stir to its calling. He merely smiled privately as it died and a sudden sad nostalgia washed over him as he knew, deep down, that he would never know that pain again.

"Thank you, Fenrir" Cloud said in a voice no louder than a whisper "Good bye my friend."

A gentle hum sounded from behind, the spikey-haired man wheeled around and was in time to witness, the crystal forms of Serah and Dajh burst into a haze of fine white powder. As the dust cleared, Cloud stared with a distinct pleasure as two people lay on the ground completely crystal-free.

Cloud moved over to the boy first, sitting him up as he groaned sleepily, rubbing his eyes. Taking two crab-steps over to the girl and lifted her up as well; her eyes opened, and Cloud saw for the first time that she had the same pale aqua orbs that her sister had. She looked around blearily before her gaze settled upon him

"C-Captain Strife?" she asked groggily, hoisting herself out of his arms; Cloud was taken aback by the sudden re-employment of his old title, but quickly recovered. Of course there would be some things she didn't know. Serah looked around, dragging an arm across her eyes "Where are we? What's going on?"

"Where's my daddy?" asked the boy suddenly, staring at the spikey-haired man with a shy look of distrust. Pushing himself upright, pulling Serah with him, Cloud heaved his blade across his tired shoulders, his gaze off in the distance. He turned back to the others with a comforting grin.

"Come on," he said "Your father is waiting for you" Cloud's eyes met Serah's again, he nodded and said plainly

"…Snow and _Claire_ are waiting as well."

**~o Lightning's POV o~**

"Stay together" called Light to the others. Joining hands with Cloud and Snow, against her better judgment, Lightning looked down; what she saw wasn't pretty. The wind was whistling at an earsplitting level, fiery cracks were ripping across the ground and chunks of the earth were beginning to fly upward, but amidst the chaos were the two Oerban woman, hand-in-hand and smiling gently. Lightning's eyes widened in horror at the realization that they had meant for this to be goodbye. Snow and Hope called out to them though they made no response; they turned to each other, looked deeply into each other's eyes. Two bright lights radiated from their bodies (one from Vanille's leg, the other from Fang's shoulder) and engulfed them in their radiance; the lights grew in their brilliance, and the women vanished into their depths. A loud 'SNAP' ripped across the group as the tower below cracked and sending massive shards of glass upward. A shocked gasped stole their attention. Light's head turned quickly towards the source and followed the path of Sazh startled finger.

The skin under the bandaged elbow of Cloud's left arm shone with the same icy-blue glaze that danced across each of their skins. Lightning could not, would not, believe what she was seeing, if he was glowing like that…no it couldn't be, Barthandelus final lie absolutely couldn't be truth! Before she (or the others for that matter) could question Cloud on the matter, she watched as his expression change to one of shock and terror; he then did something that he had never done before: he seized her around the face and planted his lips gently onto her forehead, leaving the pink-haired l'Cie dumbfounded.

"I'll be back" he said, shouting over the entropy around them; Lightning's eyebrows furrowed as she wondered where in the world he could possibly be going but her question was soon answered as he kicked off and flew backward. Lightning watched with a terrified expression and a knotted stomach as he plummeted to the ground.

"CLOUD!" shouted Sazh and Lightning, despite herself.

"COME BACK!" shrieked Snow and Hope together, though their combined voices fell on deaf ears, as Cloud became a tiny black speck and then disappeared completely. A massive, bestial roar demanded the attention of anything in its violent path; Lightning's head turned so quickly that she cricked her neck. However, materializing from a massive ball of blinding light, was a creature easily twenty feet tall, with brown dragonish skin, a mane of sharp talons weaving around its neck and four brutish arms protruding from his torso. This was unbelievable but Lightning immediately remembered the dream that seemed a lifetime ago: Ragnarok.

There was a faint 'pop' and the group dropped violently. Lightning's eyes diverted from the beast and was in time to catch Hope's blank look (his fear beyond all description) before he too erupted in a fine white powder and Lightning's hand became trapped in the boy's crystal grasp. Light's eyes met Snow's for the faintest moment. His mouth moved but no sound came out and then he too burst into dust, his transformation complete. The trio dragged her down and at their speed all four of them would die; praying for luck, Lightning wrenched her hand free of Hope's grip (though gripped it with her other hand) and snapped her fingers. However all feeling vanished as Light was enveloped in the same white and then everything disappeared.

Lightning was enjoying a wonderful nap; somewhere deep down she knew she wasn't really asleep, but the light, warm feeling of contentment was as refreshing and comforting as sleep. However, despite the gracious feeling of rest, Lightning couldn't help but feel restless; there was too much to do than she could just afford to sleep.

"Wake up" called a soft voice from out of the darkness; almost on command, Lightning felt her eyelids flutter open and a gentle gasp escaped her lips. Blinking the bleariness from her vision, the pink-haired warrior found something she did not expect. Her heavy boots crunched down on solid earth and the smell of grass pungently invaded her nostrils, a flock of large birds in the distance ran at top speeds across the rising sun. Gran Pulse?

She turned slowly, her gaze never ceasing, locating her three male friend's only feet from her, each one looking tired and confused. Hope, however, was staring at the sky behind Lightning and the pink-haired woman followed his gaze.

Suspended high in the air, atop a jagged pillar, sat Cocoon, encased completely in bluish crystal. Lightning could only stare, when the vision of Fang, Vanille and Ragnarok flashed before her eyes…

"They did it" she breathed, the full ramification of their plight laid bare "They saved the world."

Snow grunted throatily but spoke as calmly as possible, "No…they gave us a new one."

"That's one gift I'll forgive 'em for not wrapping" said Sazh with a breathless attempt at his usual humor.

"Does this, does this mean we've completed our Focus?" asked Hope; Lightning gave a noncommittal jerk of her head but became enraptured at the sight of many PSICOM and Guardian Corps airships flocking down onto the ground. Just the sheer number of them made her glad that Rosch's last words had made an impact upon them, and hoped that Captain Matsuki and the NORA troop were safe as well.

"Cocoon _has_ seen better days" conceded Snow, though, from his voice, he sounded as though his thoughts were the same as her own.

"Yeah" replied the pilot "and I'd say _that_ counts as a demolition: _Focus complete_."

Lightning didn't care whether or not their Focus was complete, what mattered to her was the fact that all had been achieved that had been set out to be done; Fal'Cie influence or no, it really was a miracle. Hope let out a surprised gasp:

"My brand!" he cried "_It's gone_!"

The words hit Lightning like a truck and the sound of shifting boots filled her ears as she and the two men grouped around the silver-haired youth. True to his word, the wrist where he'd been branded was now as clean and plain as the skins of other boys his age; Snow and Sazh made quick movements, Snow lifting a tattoo free arm and Sazh positively revealing his newly cleaned chest. Lightning placed a hand over her necklace but did not look to her own brand, she didn't have to. She could no longer feel the power that set her apart from other humans, no symptoms of alienating prejudice; they were all free! The situation warranting and overcome with the emotions, Lightning joined the others as they laughed victoriously.

Years of military training kicked in once again, as Lightning's sharp ears encountered the sound of footsteps approaching. She turned (her movement alerting the trio, all falling silent), and raised a hand to shield her eyes from the near blinding sunlight. Three people were walking towards them: one was a small child, who was deep in conversation with the pink-haired girl next to him but would occasionally make a comment to the spikey-haired human next to him (a hefty sword lugged over his shoulder) who chuckled at whatever the boy said. The girl tapped the boys shoulder and pointed towards the group; with an audible laugh the boy took off at top speed towards them, followed hastily by the girl.

Lightning could see her clearly as she ran nearer, her eyes stung though she felt no sorrow; Snow beat her to the punch, his old goofy grin resuming its place on his face.

"SERAH!" He blew passed Lightning, who moved graciously to let her eldest companion join the tall man in the run. She heard him bellow out his son's name. Serah and Snow collided in an embrace so tight, Lightning did not think they would ever come apart; Sazh let out a sound that was a mixture of a laugh and a sob as he scooped his boy into his arms (the Chocobo chick chirped merrily). Lightning smiled at the sight, though her smile quickly faded at the melancholy look on Hope's face.

"They're gone, aren't they? I-I guess they meant for this to be goodbye…" Lightning place a comforting arm around his shoulder; the journey had taken a heavy toll on him, having claimed his mother, his life and now his best friend. She gave his shoulder a tiny squeeze but Hope looked her straight in the face, his eyes were wet.

"…then again, we've changed our fates before" he spoke without sadness and a faint smile etched across his face. Lightning reciprocated with a flex of the lips that her face had become accustom to doing; pride filled her from her little brother's growing smile, fully living up to the hope for which he had been named. The boys gaze fell frontward (Lightning could see her sister and Snow walking trepidatiously over towards her) and he gave her an encouraging push.

Lightning and Serah stared each other down with equally aqua eyes; the last time she'd seen her sister, she'd called her a liar and had resulted in her inability to protect her. However, two watering pairs of eyes broke as they simultaneously stepped forward and curled their arms around each other.

"I missed you"

"Serah" said Lightning fighting her urge to cry "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said the pink-haired girl, releasing her sister and gazing her into the face "there's nothing to be sorry for."

Lightning smiled at the girl, when a shadow (easily identifiable by the bright azure shine) stepped into her peripheral vision. Her gaze turned to face Cloud, who was dirty and covered in blood, but smiling.

"How…?" Lightning began, her mind racing with questions "…Why…?"

Cloud shrugged "I know, I've got some explaining to do," he thrust a hand into his back pocket and pulled something as big as his hand out. Lightning stared down disbelievingly at the real Survival Knife that she entrusted to him in Oerba. "I think this is yours" he said offering it back to Lightning "I promised that I'd give it back, didn't I?"

Tears spilling over her eyes, Lightning took Cloud's head in her hands, leaned in and kissed him; once again, he did not reject her and the two of them reunited in a passionate exchange of tastes. When they finally parted, both of them were smiling; Lightning could feel all of the eyes on them, but she couldn't have cared less.

"Hey, hey, hey!" said Snow loudly, breaking the spell of the moment (Lightning employed every ounce of reserve calm and euphoria of the moment to keep from hitting him) "Come on, the explanations can wait: _we have a wedding to plan_! You are going to allow it, aren't you?" he spoke plainly to Lightning, who nodded with a chuckle; her eyes met Serah's (who own pale aqua orbs shifted from Cloud to Lightning with total surprise, but her smile was approving).

"You don't waste any time, do you?" snorted Hope.

"That's right" teased Sazh, Dajh on his shoulders and the Chocobo chick completing their family totem "Just charge in, guns blazing."

"Come on guys," said Cloud gesturing with his chin towards the airships "Let's go home."

"I _swear_ to _you_," said Snow privately in Lightning's ear as the party moved forward "I _will_ make her happy."

Lightning nudged him lightly in the ribs "I believe you…congrats."

Snow's smile widened and he turned back to Serah, the two making plans at rapid speed. Cloud swiveled his head around, to look at Lightning and nodded, having heard her. Before Lightning could make any form of response, movement caught her attention; out of the corners of her eyes, she found three Pulsian wolves stalking the group. They leapt at full speed, slobber dribbling from their jowls, and charged. Lightning broke off from the group, warranting a high-pitched gasp; snapping _Blazefire_ into blade mode, Lightning lifted her sword above her head and swung it up in a dual diagonal attack before thrusting the heel of her boot into a heavy roundhouse kick, sending the first into a launched stagger. Spinning into the next assault, and with all of her masterful footing, she side slashed to the left and then another to the right, before shooting backwards on equally graceful balance, and launched the second beast with a hearty belch of flame from _Blazefire_. Fluidly transitioning from the last launch, Lightning's vision went topsy-turvy as she brought her heavy boot crashed onto the head of the third, in a masterful backflip, then planting her heel, she continued with an even less friendly roundhouse. Quickly changing her weapons form, she dragged the blade upward and sent launched the third into the air; both hands gripping handle tightly, Lightning spun like a deadly, bladed tornado, striking each of the beasts. The trio of monsters fell to the ground, twitched once and then became deathly still.

Exhaling a deep, therapeutic, breath, Lightning replaced _Blazefire_ into her holster. She turned back to the group: Snow, Hope and Sazh all gave her mild looks, Serah looked shocked, Dajh was 'oohing' and 'awwing' with incredible enthusiasm. She looked Cloud (who was staring at her with a mixture of amazement and impression) straight in the eyes and said

"I win, I improved the Omnislash."

Cloud stared at her with a confused look on his face before the realization crashed over him; he laughed genuinely. "Yeah, yeah you did."

Smiling with pride and happiness, Lightning and Cloud curled their arms around one another and lead the group back to the survivors of Cocoons civilization.

**Whoa, I've finally finished the Final Fantasy XIII story, after all this time…wow! Just a few comments: a. I've always felt bad for Hope in the end scene, he never seemed to get a "happy" ending. B. I bet you guys thought I had forgot about this stuff (the bet from chapter 2; the Materia; etc). But hold your horse's folks, because we're not done yet. One more to go…please don't forget to leave me a review please and have a nice day.**


	20. Epilogue

**I DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII or XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII…ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix.**

"_Cloud Strife_?" came the dead but thoroughly shocked voice of Dr. Shelke Rui; "Wha—T-This is such a surprise, after our last meeting…I didn't think that you and I would ever speak again."

Cloud chuckled at how flustered she was; by her own statistics he was supposed to have died the previous week, but after helping save Cocoon the first thing he'd done was call his friends to say hello (much to _their_ surprise).

"I understand how you feel Shelke, but the truth is I'm as amazed as you are," this was more than likely a lie but Cloud let the comment stand; the other end was silent for a moment before she spoke again with her composure intact.

"Well how can I help you?"

"How's your withdrawal?" he asked seriously, he could hear Shelke gasp slightly;

"It's progressing slowly…look Cloud, I'm sorry but how is this possible? _How are you still alive_?" Even for Shelke the question had been badly worded, but Cloud didn't give this a second thought and proceeded onto his point.

"I've figured out how to beat the withdrawal Shelke!"

The other end of the line was silent for a moment before Shelke replied in an interested tone "Go on."

Cloud went on to tell her about his (by Sazh and Snow's count) fourth encounter with Sephiroth and the revelation of the contact between Fal'Cie and Mako energies appeared to cancel each other.

"I'm impressed Cloud Strife," she said, her dead voice flickering with excitement. "If it isn't too much to ask, I'd like to do another blood test; if what you say is true, then significant levels of Mako will have dropped in your system…and there might be a way for me to beat this as well." She paused and added jokingly "We can add to your list: finder of the cure for Mako Withdrawal."

Cloud laughed appreciatively, agreed to send her another blood sample, before saying his goodbye and shut his phone with a tiny 'clap'. His window gaze wandered out the window of the hut; beyond comprehension, it had indeed been four months since Cocoon had achieved its crystalline throne. The people of Cocoon were still trying to salvage what they could from their upside down lives and, even more so, shattered homes. However, with men like Captain Matsuki to lead the helm, many of them had settled down in newly founded settlements on Gran Pulse (Cloud privately chuckled that the world they once feared had openly and welcomingly become their new home). One such settlement was where Cloud and the others now resided: on a beach off the coast of the Spiran Ocean, a few miles walk from the pillar. With contribution from everybody (under the leadership of Snow and NORA), the town soon flourished and was ironically named "New" Bodhum. After that, the party had mostly gone its separate ways: Hope had opted to remain on Cocoon, with his father, to try and help reorganize the people (especially now that the Sanctum had been disbanded); Sazh and Dajh were busy delivering parts, supplies and other assorted equipment to the other settlements. The last time all of them had been together, had been a week after "the fall" (as many people were calling it).

The five of them (Sazh, Hope, Snow, Claire and himself) had all gone to the sight where Fang and Vanille had disappeared; though many of the civilians had their theories as to what caused the salvation of their home, only the few that had witnessed it knew the truth. It had been a quiet, private moment, each saying a word of appreciation or other flattery, though it remained an unspoken pact between them to never say good-bye.

It was in New Bodhum (with Snow, Serah and Claire) that Cloud had remained these past months, helping where he could to make their lives return to as much normalcy as possible. The NORA gang (with the gleeful approval of Snow) had jokingly offered Cloud a clunker bike to replace the old motorcycle; though, much to the hazing by Snow, Gadot, Maqui and Yuj, he accepted and presently sat in the makeshift garage outside the hut, tinkering with the motor of (what Serah had fittingly named) _Fenrir II_. With sweat and grease streaking down his face, Cloud sat, bullying his brain to remember all of the steps and all of the advice from Cid or the multitude of engineers that helped build the first one.

It was very therapeutic, listening to the rhythmic clicking and clacking of the ratchet instead of the constant sounds of battle. The Fusion Blades, lay placidly in their new casing on the workbench opposite him…a little black box staring intensely at him. Cloud forced himself not to look at it, but he was working up every last ounce of courage in him to prepare for the moment. However, he'd had the box for several weeks and was never in a good position to do anything about it. The door creaked open, Cloud turned and smiled at Claire, who was wearing a bathrobe and drying her hair furiously.

"Hey" she said with a smile, one that Cloud reciprocated easily "How's it coming?"

"Slowly" was the replied as the spikey-haired man stood and stretched, wincing slightly at the pain in his fingers. "Is it time?"

"There's still another few hours until it starts; I'm going to go help Serah get ready, I'll see you there."

"Okay, see you there."

Claire shut the door and Cloud set down his tools, sighing heavily; it had been rather tense after his lengthy explanation of the Taejin's Tower incident. Hope and Snow had gotten over it fairly quickly, Sazh had managed a few jokes after a while; Claire on the other hand, had gotten very quiet while he spoke. To be fair, it was one of his worst secrets and he suspected that his idea of keeping it from her was not one of his better plans; however, after many tense and awkward encounters, Claire too had forgiven him and here they were: living together.

Cloud's thoughts automatically shifted his gaze back towards the little black box. Mainly his ambivalence towards the subject in general had spawned from the tension between the two of them. Upon reflection, the past two months had seen significant reduction in the awkward silences and tense moments between them…in fact, they had probably been some of the best months of his life. Though this was not the first time the thought had occurred to him, and once again his conscience had taken up the argument:

_Just get it over with!_

"But I…"

_NO BUTS! Just do it you idiot!_

Taking a deep breath, the spikey-haired warrior scooped up the box and deposited its contents into his hand. He was going to do it tonight, Gaia willing he would keep his head and courage. So, gripping the item in his hand, Cloud moved out of the garage and towards the make-shift shower.

**~o Lightning's POV o~**

_Snow and Serah's Wedding_.

Lightning could not believe that this was, at long last, happening. As desperately and as stubbornly as she had rejected the very notion, here it was; however, the difference between now and then remained that Snow had earned Lightning's trust and respect and was now (in Lightning's mind) worthy to marry her little sister.

It was a simple ceremony: Serah, Snow and the priest all stood together near the surf, Lightning standing supportively behind the bride and Gadot behind the groom. The whole town had come, less by invitation and more in general principle: what better celebration of survival than a wedding? Stealing a glance at the audience, Lightning easily identified those that she sought: Sazh and Dajh sat in the second row, the boy fiddling silently with the Chocobo chick (who had now reached the size of a puppy; his father sat with a respectful expression but his body was folded into the most irritated fashion (many had come clad in donated clothes, Sazh's (much to his irritation and humiliation) consisted of a tuxedo shirt, jacket and tie and a plaid kilt).

Pale aqua eyes fell upon Hope and Cloud, seated side-by-side, each wearing identical charcoal grey suits. Lightning resisted the urge to laugh as she noticed Cloud fidget uncomfortably as the woman across from him (a dumpy, middle-aged woman with flaming red hair, impossibly white teeth and wearing the most revolting tartan dress) kept smiling and winking at him; Lightning forced her eyes frontward, teeth clamped down on her tongue. The ceremony went passed with unbelievable speed: a quick reading of scripture, the "I do's" and before long, Lightning was watching with wet eyes as the priest announced to the crowd (met by raucous applause and scattered cheering) "Mr. and Mrs. Snow Villiers!"

The town did not have to move far for the party; in fact, all everyone had to do was stand up, fold their seats and then walk over to the largest building that Lebreau proudly called her new bar. The tedious process of wedding photos took an hour to accomplish, before the wedding party could join the rest (by which time Lightning was so hungry that she could hardly stand it). The dinner was a quick but chaotic affair, where the rhythm set in quite quickly: take a bite (maybe two), speak to the congratulators and well-wishers and, when the bride and groom had had their fill, go out amongst the crowd and meet the multitude personally. After cake came the part that Lightning had waited for: the dancing.

As Serah and Snow moved out onto the floor, and began a surprisingly slow and graceful revolution. Lightning had out and out refused to take part in this part of the ceremony, despite her natural ability in battle when it came to dancing, ironically, she had two left feet. However, looking around the room, Light's eyes found Cloud vanishing out the front door; glancing around to make sure no one would notice, Lightning made her way to follow him.

The outdoors were surprisingly dark and silent compared to the party indoors, however, it was pleasantly cooler and private. Cloud stuck out like a sore thumb with his hair in the darkness but upon seeing her he gestured for her to join him. The duo stood in silence, a common yet unpleasant trait; it was awkward those first couple of weeks. After hearing his story, it hadn't been easy to accept and even harder to get over. However, had the situations been different she could not have said she wouldn't have done the same. Nevertheless, living together had absolved a lot of the trust issues and now, staring up at the ocean of stars twinkling down upon the gently crashing waves below, felt nothing short of perfect.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" asked Cloud quietly, to not disturb the serenity of the moment.

"Yeah…" was the reply; Lightning smiled at him and then something caught her eye: Cloud's face had become suddenly serious and she could see the Adam's apple bob in his throat.

"Light, do you remember why you lent me your knife?"

The pink-haired woman stared; the question had come so suddenly and randomly (as it had been months since he'd returned the knife); "It was a promise that as long as you had it and, no matter where you'd runaway to, you'd always come back to me."

"Well, if it's alright with you, I'd like to try something like that again" he said pulling his fist out of his pocket and revealed its contents. Sitting in the palm of his hand, was a tiny golden ring imbued with pink crystal; the glittering band swirled around a miniature crystal rosebud at the rings apex. Lightning gasped in surprise at its presence.

"Claire, I want this to be my promise to you that I will never leave your side again. I was a coward for a long time, someone who would have rather fade into the dust rather than fight back. You showed me that I don't have bend to fear and cowardice but that I could face it head on like I once could. But I don't want to face the rest of my life without you next to me"

Lightning's breath caught in her throat at the sincerity of his words; She nodded in encouragement…

"So, Light-" he paused but quickly recovered "Claire Farron, will you marry me?"

With tears swelling in her eyes, Lightning pushed forward and softly kissed his lips. Cloud was smiling as she broke away and asked in a voice no louder than a whisper

"Is that a yes?" Lightning was smiling happily but replied in an equal whisper

"Absolutely."

Lightning consentingly, but breathlessly, extended her left hand and Cloud slipped the ring onto her finger (resolving to wait to tell her sister). Then, their lips reunited deeply and passionately under the endless sea of stars and the future had never seemed brighter.

**Oh my god…it's done! I'm free! Good gosh, where do I begin? Okay, firstly: I'd like to give a big shout out to HassanAlHajry and TheShatteredElement, whose YouTube walkthroughs were an immense help in writing this. Second, I need to give a big 'Thank You' to messr. Do7, without whose support, advice and editing this story would never have been finished (so, Thank you mate!). Lastly, I want to thank all of you for being so loyal and sticking with me all this time as I wrote this; seriously, all of the favorites and reviews that I've bugged you guys about have really been my inspiration. As a special treat, I won't even ask you guys to 'not forget those reviews'…which I just did, crap! But I digress; let's just leave off with me saying (what I've wanted to say for a long time): please, sit back, relax and enjoy the **_**completed**_** version of AquaThunderKnight17's "Heart of the Warrior."**


	21. ANNOUNCEMENT

**WHILE I STILL DO NOT OWN FINAL FANTASY VII OR XIII, ANY OF THEIR CHARACTERS, OR ANY USED DIALOGUE FROM XIII [ALL OF THAT WOULD BELONG TO Square-Enix]…I own everything in this message.**

Hey there everybody,

First of all, I'd like to thank everybody for the support and criticisms for _Heart of the Warrior_ and _A Lightning Struck Heart _(I'm still a little surprised how popular those two have been). I'm breaking a lot of personal rules in posting this update message, but I've had several people ask me if I've got more plans for my _Heart of the Warrior_ story. Well, I didn't want to ruin the surprise because I'd get to work on it as soon as I was a little less busy (but life keeps getting in the way), so I have little choice but to make an announcement update.

_Heart of the Warrior_ and _A Lightning Struck Heart_ are getting a sequel, entitled: _Shadows of the Forgotten_.

I've been working on it for quite some time (inspired as a Remake of HoTW while I was still writing it), and I've been tinkering with it lately. Because of the demanding and draining process of novelizing Final Fantasy XIII, I've been trying to get away from Final Fantasy mainly to decompress, however my interest in it has peaked again. The major issue I am having is just fine tuning the minor details because I'm still in my "epic" fanfiction stage so the devil is in the details. Once I feel comfortable with all that, I will be attempting to start writing it.

Like I said before, life keeps getting in my way, and film school has just been eating my time like the Klumps at an All-You-Can-Eat buffet. Please do not ask me for regular updates, I will start when I can, but it's going to have to work its way around my work schedule (yes film school is more of a job than actual school).

Once again, thank you guys for supporting this story and (to an extent) me, and I'll try my best to get _Shadows of the Forgotten_ out ASAP.

- AquaThunderKnight17

**Just to have a little nostalgia/continuity with the rest of the fic: don't forget to drop me a review.**


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